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Child under-nutrition is a major public health concern in developing countries including Ethiopia. Poor quality diet is the major determinant factor contributing to child undernutrition. Pulse crop production and consumption can improve children's nutrient quality and dietary diversity. This study aimed to compare the nutritional status and child health, dietary intake, and wealth index of preschool children among pulse crop producer and non-producer families in Ethiopia. The study hypothesized that children living in families who grew pulses and consumed pulses (rather than selling their crop) would have better nutritional status due to availability of this protein-rich food source. A cross-sectional survey was conducted to determine demographic background, child feeding and caring practice and varieties and amount of pulse crop produced at the household level. A simple random sampling technique was used to select a sample of 432 children aged 24-59 months from central Ethiopia the Data was entered to SPSS v 20, WHO Anthro-plus software used to calculate the anthropometry indices, child dietary intake, level of chickpea production and consumption and wealth index, were computed using logistic regression. Chickpea (cicer arietinum L) was produced by 55.3% of the participants. Most (60.7%) of the children from chickpea producer families were high pulse consumers whereas only 15.5% of children from non-producers were high chickpea consumers (the difference in proportion is significant at p-value Key words: chickpea, preschool children, chickpea consumption, chickpea production, nutritional status, INTRODUCTION Nutrition plays an important role in growth and development of children, where a healthy diet enhances physical and mental abilities [1]. Malnutrition in children is the determinant factor for [...]

Abstract Tyrosine-protein kinase Src plays a key role in cell proliferation and growth under favorable conditions, but its overexpression and genetic mutations can lead to the progression of various inflammatory diseases. Due to the specificity and selectivity problems of previously discovered inhibitors like dasatinib and bosutinib, we employed an integrated machine learning and structure-based drug repurposing strategy to find novel, targeted, and non-toxic Src kinase inhibitors. Different machine learning models including random forest (RF), k-nearest neighbors (K-NN), decision tree, and support vector machine (SVM), were trained using already available bioactivity data of Src kinase targeting compounds. The performance evaluation of these models demonstrated SVM as the best model, which was further utilized to shortlist 51 highly potent compounds by screening an FDA-approved library of 1040 drugs. Molecular docking and molecular dynamic simulation were subsequently employed to evaluate the binding affinity and stability of the proposed compounds. Orlistat, acarbose and afatinib were identified as the potent leads, demonstrating stable conformations and stronger interactions, validated by root mean square deviation (RMSD), root mean square fluctuation (RMSF), radius of gyration (RoG), and hydrogen bond analyses. Molecular Mechanics/Generalized Born Surface Area (MMGBSA) analysis validated their binding affinities by providing comparably lower binding free energies for orlistat (− 33.4743 ± 3.8908), acarbose (− 19.5455 ± 5.4702), and afatinib (− 36.4944 ± 5.4929) than the control, dasatinib (− 13.7785 ± 5.8058). Finally, toxicity analysis revealed orlistat and acarbose as the possible safer therapeutics by eliminating afatinib as it showed significant toxicity concerns. Our investigation supports the advance computational methods utilization in the field of drug discovery and suggest further experimental validation of proposed inhibitors of Src kinase for their safer use against inflammatory diseases. The ultimate aim of this study is to advance the development of effective treatments for inflammatory diseases, linked with Src overexpression.

Yemsa, an Omotic language spoken in Ethiopia, has received limited attention in linguistic research, particularly with regard to its adverbial clauses. The lack of a comprehensive description of Yemsa’s adverbial clauses hinders our understanding of the language’s structure and its place in the Afroasiatic language family. This study aims to provide a detailed analysis of the structure and function of adverbial clauses in Yemsa, exploring their forms, functions, and subordinate markers. The research is based on a corpus of spoken and written Yemsa data, collected through fieldwork and supplemented by existing literature. A descriptive approach is employed to analyze the data, focusing on the morphological and syntactic properties of adverbial clauses. The study reveals that Yemsa adverbial clauses exhibit a range of characteristics, including dependent-person suffixes, temporal markers, and bound morphemes that connect them to main clauses. The analysis identifies five types of adverbial clauses in Yemsa: temporal, locative, manner, reason, and purpose. The findings also show that Yemsa treats aspects in adverbial clauses similarly to main clauses, with the perfective aspect remaining unmarked and the imperfective aspect marked. This research contributes significantly to our knowledge of Yemsa and the Omotic language family, providing new information about the structure and function of adverbial clauses, which is valuable for developing linguistic pedagogical materials for Yemsa. The study’s results have implications for linguistic theory, language pedagogy, and language documentation, highlighting the importance of descriptive research on understudied languages. The study’s methodology and findings can serve as a model for future research on other languages, promoting a more comprehensive understanding of linguistic diversity and complexity.

Cave carbonate minerals are an important terrestrial paleoclimate archive. A few studies have explored the potential for applying carbonate clumped isotope thermometry to speleothems as a tool for constraining past temperatures. To date, most papers utilizing this method have focused on mass-47 clumped isotope values (Δ47) at a single location and reported that cave carbonate minerals rarely achieve isotopic equilibrium, with kinetic isotope effects (KIEs) attributed to CO2 degassing. More recently, studies have shown that mass-47 and mass-48 CO2 from acid digested carbonate minerals (Δ47 and Δ48) can be used together to assess equilibrium and probe KIEs. Here, we examined 44 natural and synthetic modern cave carbonate mineral samples from 13 localities with varying environmental conditions (ventilation, water level, pCO2, temperature) for (dis)equilibrium using Δ47-Δ48 values, in concert with traditional stable carbon (δ13C) and oxygen (δ18O) isotope ratios. Data showed that 19 of 44 samples exhibited Δ47-Δ48 values indistinguishable from isotopic equilibrium, and 18 (95 %) of these samples yield Δ47-predicted temperatures within error of measured modern temperatures. Conversely, 25 samples exhibited isotopic disequilibria, 13 of which yield erroneous temperature estimates. Within some speleothem samples, we find Δ47-Δ48 values consistent with CO2 degassing effects, however, the majority of samples with KIEs are consistent with other processes being dominant. We hypothesize that these values reflect isotopic buffering effects on clumped isotopes that can be considerable and cannot be overlooked. Using a Raleigh Distillation Model, we examined carbon and oxygen isotope exchange trajectories and their relationships with dual clumped isotope disequilibria. Carbon isotope exchange is associated with depletion of both Δ47 and Δ48 relative to equilibrium, while oxygen isotope exchange is associated with enrichment of both Δ47 and Δ48 relative to equilibrium. Cave rafts collected from proximate locations in Mexico exhibit the largest average departures from equilibrium (ΔΔ47¯ = −0.032 ± 0.007, ΔΔ48¯ = −0.104 ± 0.035, where ΔΔi is the measured value – the equilibrium value). This study shows how the Δ47-Δ48 dual carbonate clumped isotope framework can be applied to a variety of tcave carbonate mineral samples, enabling identification of isotopic equilibria and therefore quantitative application of clumped isotope thermometry for paleoclimate reconstruction, or alternatively, constraining the mechanisms of kinetic effects.

Introduction: Focused cardiac ultrasound (FoCUS) has emerged as a valuable tool in emergency and critical care medicine, allowing for rapid assessment of cardiac function and structure at the bedside. This rapid diagnostic technique holds particular promise in resource-limited settings like Ethiopia, where access to standard echocardiography may be limited and delayed. However, the accuracy of FoCUS interpretation is highly dependent on the operator's skills and expertise. To inform the design of effective interventions, the study aimed to assess the accuracy of FoCUS interpretation and associated factors among senior Emergency Medicine residents at two large referral teaching hospitals in Ethiopia. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from October to December 2023 among 80 residents at Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital and St. Paul's Hospital Millennium Medical College. To assess diagnostic accuracy, 15 pre-selected cardiac ultrasound videos (normal and pathological cases) were selected from American College of Emergency Physicians website and the PoCUS Atlas, and accurate interpretation was defined as correctly answering at least 12 out of 15 readings. A binary logistic regression model was fitted to identify significant factors at the 5% level of significance, where significant results were interpreted using adjusted odds ratio (AOR) with 95% confidence interval (CI). Result: The overall accuracy in interpreting FoCUS findings was 47.5% (95% CI: 38.8–60.0%), with highest for collapsing Inferior Vena Cava (91.3%) and standstill (90.0%), and lowest for Regional Wall Motion Abnormality of Left Ventricle (46.3%). Residents who received training (AOR=4.14, 95%CI:1.32–13.04, p = 0.015), perceived themselves as skilled (AOR=4.81, 95%CI=1.06–21.82, p = 0.042), and felt confident in acquiring and interpretation (AOR=3.16, 95%CI=1.01–9.82, p = 0.047) demonstrated significantly higher accuracy. Conclusion: The study identified a low overall accuracy in FoCUS interpretation, with accuracy improving with training and better perceived skill and confidence. Training programs with simulation, continuous education, and mentorship are crucial to enhance these critical skills.

This study aimed to investigate faculty and academic leaders' conceptions of competence and competence-based education. Data were collected from 22 participants (18 males and 4 females). These participants played faculty, academic leadership, and both roles simultaneously. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, which necessitated them to define competence and competence-based education. We used the inductive content analysis method and a deductive one to analyze the data. Ten categories emerged. Iterative reading of these categories revealed that they could be grouped under three principal categories identified in the literature: competence and behavioristic-functionalism, competence and integrated occupationalism, competence and situated professionalism, and an indistinct category. The three principal categories also disclosed the participants' conceptions of competence-based education. Frequency counts of the prevalence of categories revealed competence and integrated occupationalism as the leading category, while competence and behavioristic-functionalism was the least prevalent. The emergence of 10 categories and three principal categories essentially highlighted the inconsistencies that prevailed in the conceptions of competence and competence-based education, which will affect practice in the study context.

There is increasing recognition of the importance of learning contexts in science education. However, learning contexts are rarely articulated in terms of what they constitute and are often framed by educators and textbooks with limited inputs from students. Unless properly articulated, contexts become anything and everything, thereby losing their relevance for practical aspects of science teaching and learning. In this study, we examined secondary school students' perceptions of learning contexts as they relate to their science learning and determined aspects of contextualising science education. We recruited 418 secondary school students (Grades 10 and 11) from eight schools in Bahir Dar, Ethiopia, to respond to a survey that has both closed and open-ended items. We used exploratory factor analysis to analyse the quantitative element of the survey and determine aspects of contextualising science teaching and learning. We also used open-coding and constant comparison to analyse students' qualitative descriptions of learning contexts with the goal of determining students' understanding of the concept as it relates to their science learning. Results from the factor analysis revealed four factors--"agency and discourse, inquiry and processes, everyday life and community engagement" and "customising" as aspects of contextualisation from students' perspective. The results from the qualitative element reinforced those quantitative findings. Overall, results underscore the importance of contextualising as well as questioning the purpose of science education, especially, but not limited to, in low- and middle-income countries. The study has implications for learning design and fostering learner agency in science education.

Using a holistic, interpretive qualitative ethnographic approach, this study explored the pedagogical practices of traditional educational systems in Ethiopia and their implications for contemporary education practices. Qualitative data (ethnographic observations, informal interactions and semi structured interviews) were gathered over a 3-month period. Interview data from 17 participants and observations of classrooms were collected in three traditional Qene (poetry) church schools. Observations provided insight into the teaching and learning methods, assessment and evaluation practices, classroom organisation and management, teacher student interaction, school environment and daily life of students in Qene church schools. The data were analysed using thematic descriptive narration based on themes created by the basic questions of the study. Central findings indicated that Qene church schools have their own indigenous pedagogical practices such as Qene 'Qotera', 'Negera' and 'Zerefa' that involve various collaborative and independent learning strategies. The findings also indicated that the practices of cooperative learning, reflective learning, critical interpretation, argumentative oral defence, differentiated instruction, authentic formative oral assessment, and scaffolding are central to the Qene education system. We conclude that Qene schools' pedagogical practices provide valuable insights for the pedagogical practice.