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Abstract Background Unmet need for contraception contributes to the burden of unwanted pregnancies, which are correlated with a host of adverse maternal and child outcomes. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and identify the determinants of unmet need for contraception in North Gonja District, Ghana. Methods A cross-sectional survey involving 386 randomly selected women of childbearing age was conducted in North Gonja district, Ghana, with the use of a questionnaire in household interviews. Women were classified as having unmet need for contraception if they were fecund, sexually active and wished to postpone the next birth or halt childbearing completely but were not using any form of contraception. Chi-square/Fisher’s exact test and logistic regression analysis were used to identify the determinants of unmet need. Results The mean age of the study population was 26.1 (±8.4) years and awareness on contraception was almost universal in the district (95.9%). The overall prevalence of unmet need for contraception was 38.9%, with 27.5% having unmet need for limiting and 12.2% unmet need for spacing. In multivariate analysis, compared to women aged 25–29 years, those aged 20–24 years [Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR) 0.26; 95% Confidence Interval (CI) 0.11–0.58] and 30 years and above (AOR 0.25; 95% CI 0.09–0.73) were less likely to have unmet need for contraception. However, uneducated women (AOR 5.06; 95% CI 1.07–24.01) compared with those educated to tertiary level; those unaware of family planning (AOR 3.93; 95% CI 1.12–13.80) compared to those aware; and those who had not previously practised contraception (AOR 1.81; 95% CI 1.09–3.00) compared to those who did were more likely to have unmet need. Conclusions The present study found high prevalence of both awareness on and unmet need for contraception among the study population. Unmet need for contraception is associated with age, educational status, awareness on family planning and previous contraception practice. Educational campaigns to promote contraception should prioritize women of middle age and low educational status. Further studies are needed to understand the low correlation between awareness on and unmet need for contraception.

The study assessed the effect of television advertising on children’s purchasing behaviour in Ghana. The population comprised of children between the ages of 13 and 18 years who watched television adverts. The study was conducted on a sample of 230 respondents of which 202 responses, representing 87.83% response rate were received and useable. Data were collected using questionnaire. Convenience and purposive sampling techniques were adopted in selecting respondents. The data were analyzed using IBM Statistical Packages for Social Sciences with the use of multiple linear regressions. The study found quality information, information intrusiveness and likable adverts having positive and significant impacts on children purchase behaviour. The study recommends provision of quality, accurate, reliable, and timely information about products as well as employing popular and likable celebrities in the television advertisement.

Abstract The C-terminal domain of RPB1 (CTD) orchestrates transcription by recruiting regulators to RNA Pol II upon phosphorylation. With CTD driving condensate formation on gene loci, the molecular mechanism behind how CTD-mediated recruitment of transcriptional regulators influences condensates formation remains unclear. Our study unveils that phosphorylation reversibly dissolves phase separation induced by the unphosphorylated CTD. Phosphorylated CTD, upon specific association with transcription regulators, forms distinct condensates from unphosphorylated CTD. Functional studies demonstrate CTD variants with diverse condensation properties exhibit differences in promoter binding and mRNA co-processing in cells. Notably, varying CTD lengths influence the assembly of RNA processing machinery and alternative splicing outcomes, which in turn affects cellular growth, linking the evolution of CTD variation/length with the complexity of splicing from yeast to human. These findings provide compelling evidence for a model wherein post-translational modification enables the transition of functionally specialized condensates, highlighting a co-evolution link between CTD condensation and splicing.

Digitsucking is a common habit among infants and toddlers, it is a normal adaptive process and attempts at stopping are discouraged before 2- 4 years of age. Prevalence varies along racial lines. This study is intended to document the prevalence and pattern of this habit among Ibo infants and also to determine maternal attitude and response to it. Methods: This is a crosssectional study on infant digit-sucking habit. Subjects were the mother/ infant pairs that attended the well baby clinics at the Institute of Child Health of the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospi tal , Enugu (ICHUNTH), Mother of Christ Specialist Hospital (MCSH), Enugu and the Ebonyi State University Teaching Hospital (EBSUTH), Abakaliki, between March andMay2006. Results: One hundred and forty eight (30.8%) infants digit-suck. The right fingers (66.5%) and the thumbs (42.25%) were the digits most frequently sucked. The prevalence of digit-sucking do not vary with sex ( = 1.17, p = 0.28) and infants' age ( = 49.79, p = 0.08). Hunger (71.7%) was the most common condition in which the infants suck their digits, followed by anger (6.7%) and sleep (6.1%). Most mothers (67.70%) had a negative perception to digitsucking and 69.59% of the mothers had attempted to stop the habit in their infants. Methods employed by the mothers include restraint (78.21%), and topical application of bitter substances (23.04%) and pepper (11.37%). Conclusion: digit-sucking is a common habit among Ibo infants and most mothers have negative attitude towards it, majority of which had attempted to stop this habit in their infants using mostly deterrent methods.

Background: The complications associated with blood transfusion can be reduced by carefully preventing the conditions necessitating transfusion especially the common ones. Studies are therefore needed to identify these indications but the available ones in Nigeria are from tertiary hospitals. This study therefore aimed to determine the common indications for blood transfusion among children attending secondary health facilities in South-East Nigeria. It also assessed the socio-demographic factors which influenced blood transfusion. Methods: Children aged >1month to 18years admitted into the paediatric wards of three secondary care hospitals with indications for blood transfusion were recruited. Questionnaires for documentation of admitting and final diagnoses as well as socio-demographic profiles were administered. Socio- economic status of each child was calculated using occupational and educational attainment of each parent. Pre- and post- transfusion haemoglobin were determined via the use of an autoanalyser. Results: Majority (61.9%) of the children transfused were in 1 -< 5 year age group. The commonest indications for blood transfusion were Severe Malaria (60%), Sepsis (15.2%) and Bronchopneumonia (5.7%). Age of the children had a significant negative linear relationship (r = -0.783. p = 0.000) while socio-economic status had a significant association (X 2 = 49.77, p = 0.000) with number of children transfused. However, no relationship existed between gender and number transfused (X 2 = 0.086, p = 0.770). Conclusion: Severe Malaria is the commonest indication for transfusion in children attending secondary health facilities in South East, Nigeria. Most of the children transfused are the under-5s from the low socio-economic class.

Abstract Seagrasses are marine flowering plants that form extensive meadows from the inter-tidal zone up to ~50 m depth. As biological and ecological Essential Biodiversity Variables, seagrass cover and composition provide a wide range of ecosystem services. Inter-tidal seagrass meadows provide services to many ecosystems, so monitoring their occurrence, extent, condition and diversity can be used to indicate the biodiversity and health of local ecosystems. Current global estimates of seagrass extent and recent reviews either do not mention inter-tidal seagrasses and their seasonal variation, or combine them with sub-tidal seagrasses. Here, using high-spatial and high-temporal resolution satellite data (Sentinel-2), we demonstrate a method for consistently mapping inter-tidal seagrass meadows and their phenology at a continental scale. We were able to highlight varying seasonal patterns that are observable across a 23° latitudinal range. Timings of peaks in seagrass extent varied by up to 5 months, rather than the previously assumed marginal to non-existent variation in peak timing. These results will aid management by providing high-resolution spatio-temporal monitoring data to better inform seagrass conservation and restoration. They also highlight the high level of seasonal variability in inter-tidal seagrass, meaning combination with sub-tidal seagrass for global assessments will likely produce misleading or incorrect estimates.

Abstrakt: Menschen sind soziale Tiere. Sie leben in großen Groupen und brauchen gesellschaftliche Interaktionen. Aufgrund der Masse verschiedener Individuen wird schon deutlich, dass dabei nicht immer eine heitere Atmosphäre herrschen kann. Der Konflikt, der sich aus einer möglichen toxischen Beziehung unter einer bestimmten Bevölkerung ergeben kann, führt zu verbalen Reaktionen, die in den meisten Fällen irritierend, ärgerlich und provozierend sind. Diese hauptsächlich verbale Reaktionen kōnnen in Form von Invektiven/Schimpfwörtern erfolgen. Der Beitrag untersucht die zentrale Stellung, die Invektiven sowohl in der deutschen als auch in der yorubaischen Sprache und Kultur einnehmen. Während auf ihre negativen Konnotationen in beiden Kulturen geachtet wird, wird in der Arbeit behauptet, dass sich deutsche Beschimpfungen in Art und Verwendung signifikant von Yoruba-Beschimpfungen unterscheiden. Der Beitrag identifiziert, kategorisiert, vergleicht und kontrastiert die unterschiedlichen Kontexte und Dimensionen ihrer Verwendung sowohl in der deutschen als auch in der Yoruba-Sprache und -Kultur. Schlüsselwörter: Invektiven/ Schimpfwörtern, deutsche Sprache, Yoruba-Sprache, Kultur, Kontext.

As the world is struggling to halt the rapid decline of biodiversity, the assessment and mapping of ecosystem condition is getting ever increasing attention. Croplands are artificial ecosystems, but as they occupy a large portion of land, they significantly influence biodiversity. Yet, there is a knowledge gap about their suitability to support and maintain wildlife on a national scale. Large-scale condition mapping is meant to address this gap; the good condition of croplands includes their ability to support biodiversity. However, the lack of suitable databases is often a challenge when creating such maps. As there is a strong causal relation between pressures on the ecosystem and its condition, pressure indicators can be used as proxies to approximate condition when more direct indicators are lacking. The validation of condition maps based on pressure proxies is a key but challenging step. In this study, we tested a previously designed pressure-based cropland condition map for Hungary using bird census data. Besides validating the composite condition indicator, we also tested some key elements of the mapping process, such as the choice of variables and thresholds.Using multiple comparisons of means by Tukey’s contrast and Random Forest modelling, we examined the relationship of (1) the continuous pressure-based cropland condition variables, (2) their rescaled, ordinal version (called sub-indicators), and (3) the composite cropland condition indicator (sum of the sub-indicators) with a biodiversity measure, the standardised relative richness of characteristic farmland bird species (rRRCS). To get a picture of the spatial patterns of the examined relationships across Hungary, individual Random Forest models were constructed for all the spatial units of the bird census database, using focal analysis with a 30 km radius moving window.We found significant differences in the mean rRRCS for nearly all sub-indicator categories, signifying that the literature-derived thresholds were mostly sound. Categories with higher (better) condition scores had higher mean rRRCS; the differences are significant in the mid-range but not in the extreme categories, indicating a need for a meaningful simplification of the categories. The goodness-of-fit (R2) of the Random Forest models was found to be high, but it is spatially heterogeneous (ranged from 0.69 to 0.89, with a median value of 0.81), similarly to the variable importance. The proportion of semi-natural areas proved to be the most important condition variable. The proportion of maize and alfalfa were more important than parcel size. Our results show that condition maps based on pressure proxies can reflect patterns of biodiversity surprisingly well. They also highlight the spatial context dependence of the uncertainty of condition maps.

In the course of as ses s ing publ icat ions for academic promotions over the years, one has come across severally papers by the same author(s) which overlap very significantly and should not have been presented as different publications. It is understandable that academics and researchers in institutions of higher learning, research institutes or industry desire to have their research findings disseminated in the form of publications in peer-reviewed journals. Such publications give immense exposure to the authors And are a boost to industry and for academic staff in universities, such publications are an essential requirement for gaining tenure and/or promotion in their jobs- the so called “public or perish phenomenon” The “public or perish phenomenon” puts intense pressure on academics to publish because quantity (and not necessarily quality) gives great advantage. The undesi rable consequences of this phenomenon are duplicate and redundant publications.

The nitrogen (N) cycle is a familiar concept. As is the much simplified, often diagrammatic, representation commonly used to illustrate the scale, importance and interconnectedness of this global cycle that links air, water, rocks and living beings. However, in this representation, humans are often presented as a seemingly minor entity or not explicitly shown at all. This can obscure the idea that humanity is both a direct beneficiary of the nitrogen cycle (through food and resources) and an increasingly significant influence on its function. This study sought to understand how diverse Human-Nature relationships (HNR) are expressed in recent academic literature on the nitrogen cycle. A sample of peer-reviewed literature, containing explicit and inferred examples of HNR and the nitrogen cycle, was analysed using two approaches: 1) network analysis, identifying and illustrating all quantifiable links made between components of the nitrogen cycle, and 2) content analysis to understand how different kinds of terminology were being used to describe relationships between components in the cycle. The network analysis revealed diverse links between ‘human’ and ‘non-human nature’. The content analysis found some explicit use of relational terms, most commonly ‘depend*’. Both approaches highlighted strongly reciprocal links within the ‘human’ realm and the explicit centrality in which this is held across the corpus. We demonstrate the utility of combining quantitative and qualitative analysis to understand nuanced relationships in the nitrogen cycle and explore the utility this has to increase the acknowledgement and appreciation of HNR in science communication and science-policy interface work.

This study examined the effect of different dietary inclusion levels of Moringa oleifera leaf meal on growth, haemolymph mineral composition and meat quality of Archachatina marginata and Achatina fulica. A total of one hundred and forty four (144) juvenile snails of A. marginata= 72 and A. fulica= 72, were used for the study. Eighteen (18) snails of each species were subjected to four dietary treatments (0 %, 10 %, 15 % and 20 %) of M. oleifera leaf meal in three replicates of six (6) snails per replicate over a period of 16 weeks. Growth was measured using growth indices while haemolymph mineral composition and meat quality were determined spectrometrically and by proximate method. A. marginata and A. fulica fed diets containing 20% M. oleifera leaf meal showed the best growth performance compared to the other treatments with increase in mean weight gain of 132.14 % and 62.95 %, mean shell length gain of 51.87 % and 59.47 %, mean shell circumference gain of 22.81 % and 47.53 % and mean shell thickness gain of 2.18% and 83.43 %, respectively, as compared to the control diet. The haemolymph mineral composition results of the two species showed that magnesium, calcium, potassium, iron, phosphorus and chlorine were highest in snails fed diet with 20% M. oleifera leaf meal. However, copper and sodium were recorded highest in A. marginata fed with control diet. The results of the proximate meat analysis showed that the highest crude protein contents were recorded in A. marginata and A. fulica fed with 20 % M. oleifera leaf meal, with an increase in crude protein content of 80.42 % and 114.28 %, compared to the control diet. Based on the results of this study, the inclusion of Moringa oleifera leaf meal in the snail diet up to 20 % is recommended for optimum productivity of the two snail species.