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Meskerem Adamu Chere,1 Kasech Melese,2 Yoseph Cherinet Megerssa3 1Bio and Emerging Technology Institute, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; 2Debre-Zeit Agricultural Research Center, Bishoftu, Ethiopia; 3College of Veterinary Medicine and Agriculture, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, EthiopiaCorrespondence: Meskerem Adamu Chere, Bio and Emerging Technology Institute, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Tel +251935963110, Email madchere@gmail.comBackground: Eimeria is a parasitic organism causing coccidiosis, an enteric disease of major economic importance in poultry. The conventional methods for species identification of Eimeria have major limitations.Methods: Fresh fecal samples were randomly collected from 50 small and large-scale commercial broiler farms located in Adama, Bishoftu, Dukem, and Mojo towns. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based assay was used for the differentiation of Eimeria species circulating among study sites and broiler farms. DNA was extracted from Eimeria oocytes using a DNeasy Tissue Kit. The extracted DNA templates and the genus-specific primers (Invitrogen) were used for the amplification of the ITS-1 region from seven Eimeria species of chicken. Descriptive statistical analysis and t-test were used to summarize and analyze the data.Results: The PCR result confirms that all the seven species of Eimeria were detected in both small and large-scale broiler farms. Prevalence variation was found among broiler farms and between study sites. The frequency of E. brunetti (P< 0.006) and E. tenella (P< 0.04) in the small-scale broiler farms was significantly higher compared to that of in large-scale farms. A significantly higher frequency of E. acervulina (P< 0.03) and E. brunetti (P< 0.03) was detected in broiler farms of Dukem and Mojo compared to the broiler farms in Bishoftu. The study also revealed that multiple infections of Eimeria species per sample are common in most farms. Among the evaluated small-scale broiler farms of Bishoftu, 80% showed up to 5 mixed species. In addition, about 33% of large-scale and 20% of small-scale broiler farms showed 6– 7 mixed species.Conclusion: This study characterized all the seven Eimeria species and revealed that multiple infections of Eimeria species per sample are common in most of the evaluated farms. The current findings might be useful for future anticoccidial vaccine development and for effective chemoprophylactic and control strategies.Keywords: broiler chickens, Eimeria, polymerase chain reaction, Ethiopia

Stroh formalism provides an elegant method of solution for two-dimensional anisotropic elasticity problems through the generalized eigen relation associated with the dual coordinate system that gives the material eigen values and eigen vectors, and also the fundamental elasticity matrix and its associated Barnett-Lothe tensors. The extended Stroh-like formalism of Hwu and Hsieh has expanded the scope of basic Stroh formalism by addressing the electro-mechanical coupling effects in electro elastic plates. This paper presents an inclusive solution that addresses the two-dimensional problems in infinite electro-elastic, anisotropic, and isotropic plates with an arbitrary hole under remote arbitrary coupled electro-mechanical loading. This is achieved by adopting the Stroh formalism and its subsequent versions to consider the anisotropic and electro-elastic plates, and further, by incorporating the arbitrary biaxial loading condition into the boundary conditions, and the generalized mapping function into the basic formulation to accommodate all types of in plane loading and a variety of hole shapes respectively. Various equations of the solution are derived explicitly for easy understanding and computer implementation. The stress function is derived explicitly to satisfy the condition of traction free hole with remote electro-mechanical loading under generalized plane stress-open circuit condition. The stresses and electric displacements around the hole boundary are obtained by taking the derivative of the stress function with respect to unit normal along the hole boundary. The solution presented can be degenerated to the anisotropic or isotropic case by choosing the corresponding material properties, or appropriate values of complex parameters respectively. This general solution has exactly reproduced the results of other solutions in the literature for piezoelectric plates given by different methods. New results of stresses and electric displacements are obtained for various arbitrary holes in [PZT5H/45/-45/PZT5H] s graphite/epoxy plate and PZT 4 plates. Results for holes in piezoelectric laminates and PZT 4 piezo layer are also presented by FEM., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.There is no conflict of interest since no specific grant was received for this research from any funding agencies in the commercial, public, or not-for-profit organizations., (© 2024 The Authors.)

Introduction. Unintended pregnancy is defined as a pregnancy which is a sum of mistimed pregnancy (pregnancy wanted at a later time) and unwanted pregnancy (pregnancy which is not wanted at all). Unintended pregnancy is a global public health problem and its sequels are major causes for maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality with its effect to maternal metal illness as well. Objective. To determine the prevalence and associated factors of unintended pregnancy in Debre Birhan town, northeast of Ethiopia, in 2014. Method. Community based cross-sectional study and questionnaire developed from Ethiopian demographic health survey 2011. Participants were 690 currently pregnant mothers. Association of unintended pregnancy with factors was measured with bivariate and multivariate logistic regressions. Result. In this study unintended pregnancy is found to be 23.5%. Being formerly married and never married, distance to the nearest health facility >80 minutes, gravidity >5, 1-2 parity, and partner disagreement on desired number of children are the variables significantly associated with unintended pregnancy. Conclusion. Significant proportion of unintended pregnancy is found in the study area. To minimize unintended pregnancy concerned bodies should work on the identified factors, so we can minimize maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality and keep the health of the family specifically and country in general.

Background: Coccidiosis, caused by species of the apicomplexan parasite Eimeria, is a major disease of chickens. Eimeria species are present world-wide, and are ubiquitous under intensive farming methods. However, prevalence of Eimeria species is not uniform across production systems. In developing countries such as Ethiopia, a high proportion of chicken production occurs on rural smallholdings (i.e. 'village chicken production') where infectious diseases constrain productivity and surveillance is low. Coccidiosis is reported to be prevalent in these areas. However, a reliance on oocyst morphology to determine the infecting species may impede accurate diagnosis. Here, we used cross-sectional and longitudinal studies to investigate the prevalence of Eimeria oocyst shedding at two rural sites in the Ethiopian highlands., Results: Faecal samples were collected from 767 randomly selected chickens in May or October 2011. In addition, 110 chickens were sampled in both May and October. Eimeria oocysts were detected microscopically in 427 (56%, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 52-59%) of the 767 faecal samples tested. Moderate clustering of positive birds was detected within households, perhaps suggesting common risk factors or exposure pathways. Seven species of Eimeria were detected by real time PCR in a subset of samples further analysed, with the prevalence of some species varying by region. Co-infections were common; 64% (23/36, 95% CI 46-79%) of positive samples contained more than one Eimeria spp. Despite frequent infection and co-infection overt clinical disease was not reported. Eimeria oocysts were detected significantly more frequently in October (248/384, 65%, 95% CI 60-69%), following the main rainy season, compared to May (179/383, 47%, 95% CI 42-52%, p < 0.001). Eimeria oocyst positivity in May did not significantly affect the likelihood of detecting Eimeria oocyst five months later perhaps suggesting infection with different species or immunologically distinct strains., Conclusions: Eimeria spp oocysts may be frequently detected in faecal samples from village chickens in Ethiopia. Co-infection with multiple Eimeria spp was common and almost half of Eimeria positive birds had at least one highly pathogenic species detected. Despite this, all sampled birds were free of overt disease. Although there was no evidence of a difference in the prevalence of oocysts in faecal samples between study regions, there was evidence of variation in the prevalence of some species, perhaps suggesting regional differences in exposure to risk factors associated with the birds, their management and/or location-specific environmental and ecological factors.