Random Sample Selection Research Articles

Landslide Susceptibility Prediction Based on High-Trust Non-Landslide Point Selection

Landslide susceptibility prediction has the disadvantages of being challenging to apply to expanding landslide samples and the low accuracy of a subjective random selection of non-landslide samples. Taking Fu’an City, Fujian Province, as an example, a model based on a semi-supervised framework using particle swarm optimization to optimize extreme learning machines (SS-PSO-ELM) is proposed. Based on the landslide samples, a semi-supervised learning framework is constructed through Density Peak Clustering (DPC), Frequency Ratio (FR), and Random Forest (RF) models to expand and divide the landslide sample data. The landslide susceptibility was predicted using high-trust sample data as the input variables of the data-driven model. The results show that the area under the curve (AUC) valued at the SS-PSO-ELM model for landslide susceptibility prediction is 0.893 and the root means square error (RMSE) is 0.370, which is better than ELM and PSO-ELM models without the semi-supervised framework. It shows that the SS-PSO-ELM model is more effective in landslide susceptibility. Thus, it provides a new research idea for predicting landslide susceptibility.

Results of the National Contraception Survey Conducted by Sociedad Española de Contracepción (2020).

Background: The National Contraception Survey conducted by Sociedad Española de Contracepción intends to know the sexual and contraceptive habits of Spanish women of reproductive age. Methods: A descriptive and cross-sectional study with random sample selection was conducted with women aged from 14 to 49 years old in July and August 2020. Results: A total of 1801 women participated in the study, of which 78.7% used some contraception method during their sexual relationships. The most frequently used methods were condoms (31.3%) and combined oral contraceptives (18.5%) at their last sexual encounter. A total of 25.7% used both condoms and pills, especially younger women and those who had no steady partners (p < 0.001). Use of Long-acting Reversible Contraceptives continues to be low, although a slight increase in their use is observed, and they are recommended for 50% of the users who need contraception. Counselling on contraception was provided to 64.3% of the women, mainly by their gynaecologists. Regarding the decision to use a contraceptive method, the one suggested by health professionals was more influential, although this was not the case for women aged less than 20 years old (p < 0.001). A total of 38.4% of the women have used emergency oral contraception at least once and 66.8% of those who do not make continuous use of contraception methods do so out of personal choice. Conclusions: It is necessary to deepen work on counselling and awareness among the population towards the use of efficient contraceptive methods that prevent unplanned pregnancies.

Efikasi Diri, Sokongan Sosial Dan Komitmen Dalam Kalangan Guru Sekolah Rendah

Teacher commitment is an indicator of the success and achievement of a school. However, the extent to which a teacher’s commitment in a school organization can be influenced by their self -efficacy and the social support they receive. This study was conducted to see the level of self -efficacy, social support and commitment among primary school teachers in Perak. This study is important so that teachers can increase their work commitment and ultimately be able to contribute to school success. This study is a quantitative study using survey method. A total of 134 respondents consisted of primary school teachers in Perak who were selected through a simple random sample selection method. Questionnaires were distributed to collect data and the data were analyzed using SPSS version 26.0. The findings of the study showed a high level of self -efficacy, social support and teacher commitment. In addition, there was a significant relationship between self -efficacy and social support with teacher commitment. Through this study, it is hoped that educators can focus on improving self -efficacy and social support to teachers to ensure increased commitment to the success of the school organization

تنفيذ الزراع لأساليب المكافحة المتكاملة لآفات محصول البصل بمركز قطور محافظة الغربية

هدف البحث إلى التعرف على مستوى تنفيذ الزراع المبحوثين لأساليب المكافحة المتكاملة لآفات محصول البصل بمركز قطور- محافظة الغربية، وتحديد إسهام المتغيرات المستقلة ذات العلاقة الارتباطية في تفسير التباين الحادث في درجة تنفيذهم لهذه الأساليب، والتعرف على الطرق الإرشادية التي يفضلها الزراع المبحوثين للحصول على معارفهم في هذا المجال، والتعرف على أسباب عدم تنفيذهم لهذه الأساليب. تم إجراء هذا البحث بمحافظة الغربية باعتبارها من أكبر محافظات الجمهورية زراعة لمحصول البصل (49981 فدان)، وبنفس المعيار تم اختيار مركز قطور (10235 فدان)، ومنه تم اختيار ثلاث قرى بطريقة عشوائية فكانت قرية أبو جندى، وسملا، والحراملة، تلى ذلك اختيار عينة عشوائية منتظمة بنسبة 10% من زراع القرى الثلاث المختارة فبلغ حجم العينة 179 مبحوث، وقد تمثلت الأساليب الاحصائية المستخدمة في تحليل البيانات وعرض النتائج في: التكرارات والنسب المئوية، والمتوسط الحسابي، والانحراف المعياري، ومعامل الارتباط البسيط لبيرسون، ونموذج التحليل الارتباطي والانحداري المتعدد والتدريجي الصاعد (Step-wise). وتمثلت أهم النتائج فيما يلى: 1- تبين أن 60.3% من المبحوثين ذوي مستوى تنفيذ متوسط للتوصيات الخاصة بالمكافحة الزراعية، وأن 77.7% منهم ذوي مستوى تنفيذ متوسط للتوصيات الخاصة بالمكافحة الكيميائية، وأن قرابة 51% منهم ذوي مستوى تنفيذ متوسط للتوصيات الخاصة بالمكافحة الميكانيكية، وأن قرابة 70% منهم ذوي مستوى تنفيذ منخفض للتوصيات الخاصة بالمكافحة الحيوية. 2- أكثر المتغيرات إسهامًا في تفسير التباين الحادث في المتغير التابع كانت متغيرات: عدد سنوات الخبرة في زراعة محصول البصل، والحالة التعليمية للمبحوث، ومتوسط إنتاج الفدان من محصول البصل، ودرجة التعرض لمصادر المعلومات الزراعية، والرضا عن العائد الاقتصادي من زراعة محصول البصل، ودرجة توفر الخدمات الإرشادية، والغرض من الزراعة، والاتجاه نحو الإرشاد الزراعي. 3- أكثر الطرق الإرشادية التي يفضلها المبحوثين كانت الزيارات الحقلية والمكتبية والندوات والاجتماعات الإرشادية والحقول الإرشادية، بينما كانت أقل الطرق ترتيبًا في تفضيل المبحوثين المطبوعات الإرشادية والانترنت والزيارات المنزلية. 4- تبين أن عدم معرفة المبحوثين بهذه التوصيات وارتفاع أسعار تطبيقها، وانخفاض أسعار البصل، وتدنى دور الإرشاد الزراعي في تطبيق هذه التوصيات كانت أهم أسباب عدم تنفيذهم لهذه الأساليب.

Understanding, Oral Hygiene Practices, Behaviors and Myths to deal with Toothache in Rural Areas

BACKGROUND &amp; OBJECTIVE: In Pakistan, there is lack of awareness to maintain oral hygiene and cleaning of oral structures. The current study aims to unveil homemade remedies and self-care methods followed by a majority of the rural population to cure dental pain in Sindh, Pakistan.&#x0D; METHODOLOGY: This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted at dental OPD of the Secondary Health Care Facility of Sindh, Pakistan, by following a random sample selection approach. Patients from both genders representing oro-dental problems of ages ≥ 5 year were included in the study. Patient’s clinical and demographic data was collected, and further descriptive data analysis was done by using Microsoft Excel 2016.&#x0D; RESULTS: A total of 1627 patients fulfilled the inclusion criteria of the study. The highest number of cases (73.81%) were belonging to the age group 15-49 years, affirming that adults are at greater risk of developing toothache and dental pain. Surprisingly, about 78.97% patients had never visited any physician for seeking the clinical services. Similarly, 37.18 % of patients did not use any cleaning substance while 22.12 % patients preferred miswak for cleaning of their teeth. Only 2.95 % of patients visited dentists for proper care.&#x0D; CONCLUSION: Current research report concludes that from all the confirmed toothache cases, 22.13 % of patients sought care from general physicians in parallel with 22.34 % patients were preferring religious spells to manage their dental pain, which further multiplied the disease rate. However, general physicians at primary healthcare settings have limited knowledge and training in managing dental pain.

A COMPARATIVE STUDY ON NUTRITIONAL KNOWLEDGE AND PRACTICE OF DAIRY PRODUCTS AMONG COLLEGE GOING MALE AND FEMALE ATHLETES.

Introduction: Milk is a complex, nutritious product that contains more than 100 substances namely water, carbohydrate and proteins. It is an excellent source of most minerals required for the growth of the younger population. Purpose: To compare nutritional knowledge and practice of milk and milk products among college going male and female athletes within the age group of 18-24 years. Method: The sampling of research project was done on the basis of random sample selection method. Atotal of 60 athletes within the age group of 18-24 years were selected. 30 female and 30 males were selected in Group A and B respectively. Selected athletes went through a structured questionnaire, an interview and anthropometric measurements and the data was collected. Result: 98% of the athletes were Hindu, while the rest were from other different religions. As for the eating habits 54% of them were vegetarian. 90% of athletes were living in their homes. 77% of female athletes and 90% of male athletes were consuming milk every day. 75% of athletes consume milk because they think milk is nutritious. 80% female athletes and 69% male athletes have knowledge about the milk and its benets. Conclusion: Data showed that male athletes were more aware about benets of consumption of milk and milk product and also consumes them regularly compared to female athletes.

The Relationship Between Body Mass Index and Depression, Anxiety, Body Image, and Eating Attitudes in Adolescents in Iran.

Background:The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and depression, anxiety, body image, and eating attitudes in 12- to 16-year-old adolescents.Materials and Methods:In this descriptive-analytical study on 437 students in Shahrekord, Iran, selected by two-step random sampling (selection of schools and students), participants were divided into normal weight (BMI: 5–85th), overweight (BMI: 85–95th), and obese (BMI >95th) groups and completed the questionnaires and data were analyzed by SPSS version 23.Results:BMI had a positive correlation with anxiety, depression, and dysfunctional eating attitudes, and negative correlation with body image in adolescents. Mean scores of depression and anxiety in both overweight and obese groups were significantly higher than those in normal weight adolescents but scores of body image and eating attitudes were not different between overweight and normal weight groups.Conclusion:Obesity and overweight may have adverse effects on mental health of adolescents and more attention to psychological aspect of obesity can help us to provide better health services to overweight and obese adolescents.

Management Control Procedures and Environment of Local Councils, Sierra Leone (Case: Bo and Kenema Districts Councils)

The study assessed management control procedures and environment of Local Councils in Sierra Leone with reference to Bo and Kenema Districts Councils. The secondary objectives of the study were, to: 1) assess control procedures on the councils effectiveness; 2) assess control procedures in reducing fraudulent activities; 3) assess control procedures in promoting the councils performance; 4) identify the weaknesses in the control procedures; and 5) assess control procedures in achieving monitoring and supervision at the councils. The approach adopted for the study was a cross-sectional descriptive design, and the data were presented by the use of qualitative and quantitative methods. The target population of the study is twenty-eight (28) core staff members, out of which 26 core staff members were selected from both councils that adhered to control procedures and environment of Bo and Kenema Districts Councils. A simple random sampling selection was used to select 26 core staff by a pre-tested validated questionnaire with the reliability test of (0.765) from the 18th-24th December, 2021. Data collected were analysed using SPSS and excel. Majority of the core staff of Bo and Kenema Districts Councils affirmed that control procedures and environment promote the councils’ operational effectiveness, controls reduce fraudulent and erroneous activities, and controls reduce internal weaknesses/leakages of Local Councils. While majority of core staff strongly opposed that control procedures do not reduce weaknesses and compromise the standards set by the Local Service Commission. A four-point Likert scale utilised, and the data instruments employed include; questionnaire and documentary analysis. In conclusion, Bo District Council displays more supports by complying with its control procedures to enhance performance and reduce control weaknesses. While at Kenema District Council, control procedures aided the councils immensely in terms of minimising its fraudulent activities, improved performance and enhanced monitoring and supervision. The research paper therefore, recommends that the Local Service Commission should make available to the core staff members internal policies, acts and regulations to the 22 local councils in Sierra Leone.

Microvascular Inflammation: An Incremental Path to Refining the Diagnosis of Antibody-mediated Rejection in Heart Transplantation

Microvascular Inflammation: An Incremental Path to Refining the Diagnosis of Antibody-mediated Rejection in Heart Transplantation

Confirmed circulation of SARS-CoV-2 in Irish blood donors prior to first national notification of infection.

IntroductionBlood donor studies offer a unique opportunity to screen healthy populations for the presence of antibodies to emerging infections. We describe the use of blood donor specimens to track the ‘first-wave’ of the COVID-19 pandemic in Ireland.MethodologyA random selection of donor samples received by the Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS) between February and September 2020 (n = 8,509) were screened by multiple commercial SARs-CoV-2 antibody assays. The antibody detection rate was adjusted to the population to determine the SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence in Ireland.ResultsSARS-CoV-2 antibody detection rose significantly during the first peak of COVID-19 infection, increasing from 0.3% in March, to 2.9% in April (p < 0.0001, The first SARS-CoV-2 antibody positive donor samples were collected on the 17th February 2020, 2 weeks prior to the first official notification. This is the earliest serological evidence of SARS-CoV-2 circulating in the Irish population. Our results also show a significantly higher antibody prevalence in the Capital city and in donors less than 40 years of age.ConclusionsThe present study demonstrates evidence of SARS-CoV-2 antibody reactivity across all age groups and counties. The critical value of blood donor seroprevalence studies is apparent in this report which identified the earliest serological evidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection in Ireland, as well as documenting the evolution of COVID-19 pandemic in Ireland over time.

BRNS + SSFSM-DTI: A hybrid method for drug-target interaction prediction based on balanced reliable negative samples and semi-supervised feature selection

De novo drug discovery is a time-consuming and costly process. Drug repositioning, which means finding new applications for existing drugs, is one of the most effective approaches to reduce time and cost of detecting a new drug. Predicting drug-target interactions (DTIs) can facilitate the drug repositioning and consequently accelerate the process of drug discovery. The diversity of drug descriptors and protein features as well as the lack of access to experimentally-confirmed non-interacting drug-target pairs as negative samples are the major challenges in predicting new DTIs. In this study, we present a modified algorithm for extracting balanced reliable negative samples named BRNS. Moreover, we propose a semi-supervised feature selection method called SSFSM-DTI and compare the performance of our hybrid predictive model with the models constructed by random selection of negative samples and the other well-known feature selection methods on benchmark DTI datasets. The results show that the combination of BRNS and SSFSM-DTI is superior to the random selection of negative samples and the state-of-the-art feature selection methods in most cases. Hence, it can be used as a guideline in the drug repositioning process. The source codes and all datasets used in this study are available at https://github.com/LBDSoft/BRNS.

Impact of precoding on reimbursement in diagnosis-related group systems: Randomized controlled trial

BackgroundComplete and correct documentation of diagnosis and procedures is essential for adequate health provider reimbursement in diagnosis-related group (DRG) systems. The objective of this study was to investigate whether daily monitoring and semiautomated proposal optimization of DRG coding (precoding) is associated with higher reimbursement per hospitalization day. Materials and methodsThis parallel-group, unblinded, randomized clinical trial randomized patients 1:1 into intervention (precoding) and control groups. Between June 12 and December 6, 2019 all hospitalized patients (1566 cases) undergoing elective or emergency surgery at the department of surgery in a Swiss hospital were eligible for this study. By random sample selection, cases were assigned to the intervention (precoding) and control groups. The primary outcome was the total reimbursement, divided by the length of stay. ResultsOf the 1205 randomized cases, 1200 (precoding group: 602) remained for intention-to-treat, and 1131 (precoding group: 564) for per-protocol analysis. Precoding increased reimbursement per hospitalization day by 6.5% (160 US dollars; 95% confidence interval 31 to 289; P = 0.015). In a regression analysis patients hospitalized 7 days or longer, precoding increased reimbursement per day by 10.0% (246 US dollars; 95% confidence interval −12 to 504; P = 0.021). More secondary diagnoses (mean [SD]: 5.16 [5.60] vs 4.39 [5.34]; 0.77; 95% confidence interval 0.15 to 1.39; P = 0.015) and nonsurgical postoperative complications (mean [SD]: 0.68 [1.45] vs 0.45 [1.12]; 0.23; 95% confidence interval 0.08 to 0.38; P = 0.002) were documented by precoding. No associated was observed regarding the length of stay, total reimbursement, or case mix index. The mean (SD) precoding time effort was 37 (27) minutes per case. ConclusionPhysician-led precoding increases DRG-based reimbursement. Precoding is time consuming and should be focused on cases with a longer hospital stay to increase efficiency.

The effect of dentist gender on the anxiety level of visiting children

Anxiety and fear of dentistry are some of the common topics among most children. The purpose of this study is to survey the effect of therapist gender on the anxiety of children. Due to considerable hypotheses and questions in this study, the t-dependent method is used to reach results. Zung questionnaire was used for the assessment of children's anxiety to 8 years old age, which was included 20 questions that considered a physical and mental condition of anxiety, which is based on the spectrum scales of not being, low, medium, and high. The statistical community consisted of 60 people obtained through a random selection of samples. The results arising from this study showed that children have more cooperation and calmness with female therapists, and their anxiety is less than the children who were treated by male therapists. Keywords: Children anxiety, therapist, gender, visiting children, dentistry

Analysis of the level of aggression and violence of students and other professional groups who are fans of Düzce sports football

The study aimed to examine the levels of aggression and violence of students and other professional groups who are Düzcespor football fans. For the research model, the survey model, one of the quantitative research types, was chosen. The study's data collection process was carried out during the 2019-2020 season of the Turkey Football Federation, and the population of the study consisted of Düzcespor fans between the ages of 12-68. The sample of the study, on the other hand, consists of 498 people who voluntarily participated in the study using the random sample selection technique. As a result of normality tests (Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Shapiro Wilk), it was determined that the scores obtained from the scales did not show a normal distribution. For this reason, non-parametric tests Mann Whitney-U Test, Kruskal Wallis Test, and Bonferroni Test, one of the Post Hoc tests, were used to determine which group caused the significant difference between the groups as a result of the analysis. Frequency, percentage, minimum, maximum, average, and standard deviation values were also used to analyze the data. The level of significance was determined as p &lt; 0.05. The study's findings showed that Düzcespor supporters had moderate aggression and violent behaviors. There was a significant difference between the variables of gender, age, education level, occupation and income, and aggression and violent behavior. The study results revealed that aggression and tendency to violence are higher in males, younger people, high school students and people with low income.

Abstract 3000: Zebrafish tumor-derived xenograft-models for improved diagnosis and treatment planning in ovarian cancer patients

Abstract Precision medicine approaches based on DNA or RNA analyses, are often not identifying actionable mutations in the patients, and have not been established for predicting presonse to commonly used drugs such as platins and taxols. In epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC), where paclitaxel and carboplatin is the most commonly used first-line treatment, however, local practice and a host of clinical studies have/are evaluating combinations with other drugs, implying that first line treatment regimens may vary in different countries and regions. As EOC patients that respond to first-line treatment have much better prognosis that those who don't, there is an urgent need for methods to predict the outcome to various available first line therapies, prior to treatment onset, so that the optimal treatment can be identified and offered to every patient. Zebrafish tumor xenograft (ZTX) models have recently been used to predict treatment outcome to first line therapy in multiple myeloma, neuroendocrine cancer, colorectal cancer and gastric cancer, but these studies have been small case studies including only a few patients. Furthermore, EOC, and the main drugs used to treat them have, however, not been studied in ZTX models in the past. Here we present results from the first 81 patients in an ongoing clinical study to delineate the sensitivity and specificity of ZTX models to predict treatment outcome to paclitaxel and carboplatin. Of these 81 patients, 21 presented with a primary tumor only, whereas 60 had metastatic disease. To date, 25 patient-derived tumor xenograft models have been developed by random selection of samples from this patient cohort, of which 12 were from paired primary and metastatic lesions from 6 patients. We show that tumors generated from metastatic omental lesions exhibited similar growth and metastatic dissemination as those generated from samples taken from ovarian lesions. Among the 25 patient models generated, 15 were analyzed for efficacy of paclitaxel and carboplatin in the ZTX models. We found that 11 of 15 responded to paclitaxel, 12 of 15 to carboplatin and 10 of 15 to both drugs. In conclusion, ZTX EOC models established from surgical samples allow prediction of treatment outcomes to 1st line treatment and thereby may aid treatment planning in the future. Citation Format: Karthik Selvaraj, Malin Vildevall, Lina Wirestam, Zaheer Ali, Anna Erkstam, Annelie Abrahamsson, Åsa Rydmark Kersley, Preben Kjölhede, Stig Linder, Charlotta Dabrosin, Anna Fahlgren, Lasse Jensen. Zebrafish tumor-derived xenograft-models for improved diagnosis and treatment planning in ovarian cancer patients [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2021; 2021 Apr 10-15 and May 17-21. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2021;81(13_Suppl):Abstract nr 3000.

Rekomendasi Pengelolaan Perkebunan Kopi Rakyat di Kabupaten Kepahiang

Coffee as one of export commodities requires a good management strategy to maintain its continuity while also increasing both quality and quantity, for example by developing more efficient agricultural techniques. The purpose of this study was to reveal the knowledge of farmers in Taba Tebelet Village about a good smallholder coffee plantation management and give priority to coffee plantation management recommendations. A survey was required to collect primary and secondary data. Observation results and structured interviews were considered as primary data and secondary data were supporting data used for qualitative analysis. The technique used for data collection through survey was called snowball technique which was based on the random sample selection method. The focus of recommendations for good smallholder coffee plantation management in Kepahiang Regency was obtained through SWOT analysis, then to determine the priority of those management recommendations using QSPM (Quantitative Strategic Planning Matrix) analysis. The SWOT analysis has resulted 4 recommendations of management. They were (1) intensive and organic farming (TAS 1.36); (2) conducting training/counseling on organizational and plantation management (TAS 0.63); (3) legality of coffee quality (TAS 0.22); and (4) public-private partnership related to the procurement of production input for coffee plantations (TAS 0.46). The priority for a coffee plantation management strategy was determined based on the order of TAS value (Total Attractive Score), where the implementation of the highest score should be prioritized in overcoming deficiencies and threats that occur in coffee plantations

IDENTIFICATION OF PRIVATISED PUBLIC UTILITIES AND RESIDENTIAL PROPERTIES IN IBEJU-LEKKI AXIS OF LAGOS STATE

This study identified the different public utilities that are Privatised and the types of residential properties in Ibeju-Lekki in Lagos State. The area of study was stratified into high, middle, and low densities in the study area. From the records at Ibeju-Lekki government administrative office, it was further revealed that there were 56, 60, and 40 residential areas respectively on the high, medium, and low densities. Systematic random sampling selection without replacement was employed to select one of every four identified residential areas in each density, gives 14, 15, and 9 residential areas from the high, medium, and low densities respectively.&nbsp; There were 3,411, 1745, and 549 residential buildings in the identified residential areas. Selection of the first building in each area was done randomly while a subsequent unit of the investigation was every 20thbuilding which gave a sample size of 171, 87, and 27 residential buildings in the high, medium, and low densities respectively. One household head was selected in each building randomly. Data collected from household heads include information on the functional public utilities that are Privatised, types of buildings/ properties, the rental value of properties in the area from 2003-2015 among others. The result showed that there were six public utilities that are Privatised in the study area namely waste disposal, water supply, streetlight, road network, telecommunications, and postal service with variation in their functionality index across the densities. Finally, it was revealed that major types of residential properties identified in Ibeju-Lekki axis of Lagos State were tenement, self–contained, bungalow, the block of flats, duplex, detached and semi-detached. The household heads need to be well informed on the need for privatization of public utility to enhance the participation of household heads in the decision-making process.

Peer Education Intervention to Promote Drug Abuse Prevention among Secondary Schools Students

Drug abuse is a worldwide serious health problem. Peer education is an effective method in preventing risky behaviors and educating teens about drug abuse. Aim of the current study was to evaluate the effectiveness of peer education intervention to promote drug abuse prevention among secondary schools students. Methods: a quasi-experimental research design was used. A multi-stage random sample selection of six secondary schools affiliated to the Ministry of Education and Technical Education was utilized. A convenience sample of 1200 students was selected from the 1st, 2nd and 3rd grades of the selected schools at Shebin El kom, Menoufia Governorate, Egypt. Instruments: (1) Sociodemographic data questionnaire; (2) Basic knowledge of students about drug abuse questionnaire; (3) Attitudes of the students toward drug abuse prevention assessment questionnaire and; (4) Self-efficacy of students about drug abuse prevention questionnaire. Results: the mean age of the studied students in both study and control groups were (16.14 ± 1.08 &amp;15.96 ± 1.01) respectively. There were statistically significant differences between study and control group in the total mean score of knowledge about drug abuse post intervention (12.39 ±1.72 &amp; 6.88 ± 1.35; P value .000) compared to pre-intervention (6.95 ± 2.14 &amp; 6.72 ± 2.19; P 0 .535). There was a statistically significant difference between study and control group regarding students' attitudes toward drug abuse post intervention (160.98 ± 11.72 &amp; 75.55 ± 13.35; P 0.000) compared to pre-intervention (77.53 ± 12.14 &amp; 75.89 ± 11.19; P 0.735). Finally, there was a statistically significant difference between study and control group regarding students' self efficacy about drug abuse prevention post intervention (11.84 ± 1.92 &amp; 8.18 ± 1.55; P 0.000) compared to pre-intervention (8.89 ± 3.14 &amp; 7.99 ± 1.92; P 0.598). Conclusions: the findings of the current study suggest that peer education intervention has a positive effect and significantly enhances knowledge, self-efficacy and attitudes of secondary school students toward drug abuse. Recommendation: Peer education intervention as a school-based prevention programs is an appropriate model to be implemented for drug abuse prevention among school students.

Effect of Isoniazid Prophylaxis Therapy on the Prevention of Tuberculosis Incidence and Associated Factors Among HIV Infected Individuals in Northwest Ethiopia: Retrospective Cohort Study.

BackgroundTreating latent tuberculosis (TB) infection with Isoniazid (INH) among human immune virus (HIV) infected patients reduces active TB occurrence and death by 62% and 26%, respectively. Even though other studies show aforementioned evidence, TB incidence and its associated factors among HIV-infected individuals who were on INH and never on INH is not well studied in northwest Ethiopia. Therefore, this study tried to assess the effect of INH prophylaxis in TB prevention and associated factors among HIV-infected individuals.MethodsData were extracted from charts of HIV-infected clients who completed INH (193) and were never on INH (198) after a simple random sampling selection was done among newly diagnosed patients on follow-up from 2008 to 2015. After data were collected, it was entered into Epi info version 7 and exported to SPSS version 22 for analysis. Cox regression model was fitted and the hazard ratio was reported.ResultsIn this study, the overall TB incidence rate among HIV patients was 3.5/100 person-years (PY) [95% CI: 2.55, 4.82]. But it was 7.1/100 PY among patients who were never on INH and 0.35/100 PY among patients who completed INH. INH completed [adjusted hazard ratio (AHR) = 0.08, 95% CI: 0.02–0.37], on anti-retroviral therapy (ART) [AHR = 0.02, 95% CI: 0.01–0.04], baseline World Health Organization (WHO) stage I & II [AHR =0.22, 95% CI: 0.08–0.62] and baseline CD4 ≤ 350 [AHR=3.76, 95% CI: 1.39–10.18] were significantly associated with TB incidence.ConclusionPutting patients on INH for 6 months and ART were protective factors against TB. Therefore, health institutions are recommended to provide INH after ruling out active TB and contraindications for HIV-infected individuals.

A STUDY OF EFFICACY OF THE CLASSIC ECG CRITERIA TO DIAGNOSE LEFT VENTRICULAR HYPERTROPHY IN HYPERTENSIVE SUBJECTS AND EVALUATION OF A NEW SCORE

This observational cross-sectional Study was done in the Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences in R. G. Kar Medical College and Hospital from February, 2015 to December 2016. Atotal of 220 hypertensive patients were included through simple random sample selection. Patients who full the inclusion and exclusion criteria were enrolled for the study after getting written informed consent. This study was carried out using the echocardiogram as the gold standard for the diagnosis of LVH. The new score proposed here, of which cutoff for the diagnosis of LVH was arbitrarily set at 2800mm-ms, is easily applicable in clinical practice and presented the best correlation with the LVMI, when compared to some classic electrocardiographic criteria.