Analysis of forest cover change and its driving factors in Senan district, Amhara Region, Ethiopia.

Forests are pivotal in upholding and stabilizing ecosystem functions and services globally. Assessing changes in forest cover serves as a crucial indicator to comprehend the scope, scale, and dynamics of land use and land cover alterations on regional and global scales. This study evaluates the forest cover changes between 2005 and 2021, pinpointing the key drivers of forest land changes within the Senan district in Ethiopia's Amhara region.

A rare case of Crigler-Najjar syndrome type 2: A case report and literature review.

Key Clinical Message: Crigler-Najjar syndrome type 2 should be suspected in any young patient presenting with isolated indirect hyperbilirubinemia where all other common etiologies have been excluded. It is a relatively benign condition that responds to phenobarbitone.

Abstract: Crigler-Najjar syndrome (CNS) type 2 is an inborn cause of isolated indirect hyperbilirubinemia characterized by a partial deficiency of the enzyme uridine 5'-diphosphate-glucuronosyltransferase (UGT) responsible for bilirubin conjugation.

Distribution of sika deer (Cervus nippon) and the bioclimatic impact on their habitats in South Korea.

Invasive species and climate change are primary factors influencing biodiversity, and examining the behavior of invasive species is essential for effective conservation management. Here, we report the global distribution of the sika deer (Cervus nippon) based on locations reported in published literature (Google Scholar), the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) database, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature report. We used the maximum entropy (Maxent) model to examine the impact of climate change on sika deer habitats in South Korea based on GBIF occurrence data and WorldClim bioclimatic variables.

Habitat utilization distribution of sika deer ().

Habitat-specific and movement-related behavioral studies are essential for the development of sustainable biodiversity management practices. Although the number of studies on sika deer is increasing, habitat utilization distribution (UD)-related studies remain limited. In this study, we investigated the habitat UD behavior of sika deer () using a literature survey and an experimental study on Suncheon Bonghwasan Mountain, South Korea.

Vitamin B12 deficiency in an infant with neurological and hematological findings: A case report.

Key Clinical Message: It is important for pregnant and breastfeeding women who adhere to a strict vegetarian diet to take appropriate steps to avoid vitamin B12 deficiency in their infants.

Abstract: Vitamin B12 deficiency is rare during infancy. The initial symptoms of this deficiency are subtle and may include irritability, failure to thrive with a decline in growth rate, apathy, anorexia, refusal of solid foods, megaloblastic anemia, and developmental regression.

Secondary cardiac amyloidosis in a patient with mixed connective tissue disease: A case report.

We report the case of a 62-year-old man who presented with shortness of breath, cough, bilateral lower limbs' swelling, and blackish discoloration of multiple fingertips over the past 2 months. Anti-Ribonucleoprotein antibodies were found to be present, and gadolinium-based cardiac MRI showed non-vascular subendocardial enhancement with diffuse symmetrical thickening of the left ventricular wall. A diagnosis of Mixed connective tissue disease with secondary cardiac amyloidosis was thus made, and the patient was successfully managed with intravenous cyclophosphamide, corticosteroids, and other supportive measures.

Inequalities in Childhood Immunisation in South Asia.

Identifying the inequalities associated with immunisation coverage among children is crucial. We investigated the factors associated with complete immunisation among 12- to 23-month-old children in five South Asian countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Pakistan, using nationally representative data sets from the Demographic and Health Survey (DHS). Descriptive statistics, bivariate association, and logistic regression analyses were employed to identify the prevalence and the factors in each country that affect the likelihood of full childhood immunisation coverage.

Climate Change Influences the Spread of African Swine Fever Virus.

Climate change is an inevitable and urgent issue in the current world. African swine fever virus (ASFV) is a re-emerging viral animal disease. This study investigates the quantitative association between climate change and the potential spread of ASFV to a global extent.

Spatial proliferation of African swine fever virus in South Korea.

The African swine fever virus (ASFV) was first detected in South Korea on a pig farm in September 2019. Despite active preventive measures to control the spread of ASFV, outbreaks on pig farms and in wild boar have been increasing. In this study, we investigated the spatial contamination area using the minimum convex polygon (MCP) approach, and growth rate using a logistic diffusion model.

Limit of incorporating cesium cations into formamidinium-methylammonium based mixed halide perovskite solar cells.

Incorporating formamidinium (FA) into methylammonium (MA) based perovskite has brought significant thermal and environmental stability including best device performance. It has been shown that addition of Cesium (Cs) makes perovskite robust in terms of thermodynamic stability as well. We explore the means of incorporating Cs into a base perovskite of mixed cation (FA/MA) and mixed halide (I/Br) that has a proven track record of high performance through an inter-diffusion approach.

Pulse electrodeposited manganese oxide on carbon fibers as electrodes for high capacity supercapacitors.

Arrays of manganese dioxide (MnO), a pseudocapacitive material, have been deposited on the carbon fibers (CF) of a carbon woven fabric by electrodeposition from a solution containing manganese sulfate and sulfuric acid using galvanostatic square waves. The thickness of the MnO was varied by increasing/decreasing the time of deposition, and the electrochemical performance of the MnO has been analyzed. The CF serves as a substrate material with high surface area, good electrical conductivity and excellent mechanical strength.

The impact of unconditional child cash grant on child malnutrition and its immediate and underlying causes in five districts of the Karnali Zone, Nepal - A trend analysis.

Background: The impact of unconditional cash transfers on child malnutrition and its determinants remains poorly understood. The aim of this study was evaluate the impact of an unconditional child cash grant on children's nutritional status and its immediate (infant and young child feeding, dietary diversity, food consumption, and child infection and care) and underlying (household food security; Water, Hygiene and Sanitation (WASH) determinants among children younger than five years in the Karnali Zone, Nepal.

Methods: The five districts of the Karnali Zone received standard social welfare services in the form of targeted resource transfers for eligible families, plus an unconditional child cash payment, augmented by a capacity building and behavioural change education.

The Synergetic Effect of Cash Transfers for Families, Child Sensitive Social Protection Programs, and Capacity Building for Effective Social Protection on Children's Nutritional Status in Nepal.

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the synergetic effect of child sensitive social protection programs, augmented by a capacity building for social protection and embedded within existing government's targeted resource transfers for families on child nutritional status.

Design: A repeat cross-sectional quasi-experimental design with measures taken pre- (October-December 2009) and post- (December 2014-February 2015) intervention in the intervention and comparison district. The comparison district received standard social welfare services in the form of targeted resource transfers (TRTs) for eligible families.

Combinatorial Reactive Sputtering of In2S3 as an Alternative Contact Layer for Thin Film Solar Cells.

High-throughput computational and experimental techniques have been used in the past to accelerate the discovery of new promising solar cell materials. An important part of the development of novel thin film solar cell technologies, that is still considered a bottleneck for both theory and experiment, is the search for alternative interfacial contact (buffer) layers. The research and development of contact materials is difficult due to the inherent complexity that arises from its interactions at the interface with the absorber.

Antireflection coatings designed by the average uniform algorithm for thin film solar cells.

Effective coatings improve the performance of any device designed to emit or collect light over a range of angles and wavelengths. Improved broadband and wide angle antireflection coatings (ARCs) are a simple and direct way to improve solar cell performance. In this paper we demonstrate a multilayered ARC optimized using a new meta-heuristic algorithm called the average uniform algorithm (AUA).

A symmetric probabilistic γ-index for Monte Carlo dose comparisons.

The γ-index is a widely used tool to compare two dose distributions, which combines both the dose difference and distance-to-agreement criteria into a single metric. The γ-index passing rate, defined as the percentage of dose points with γ-index value less than one, is often used as an agreement metric. However, the γ-index is not symmetric with respect to the choice of the reference and evaluation distributions.

Synergistic effect of PVP and PEG on the behavior of silver nanoparticle-polymer composites.

Silver nanoparticles-polymer nanocomposites, Ag-(1 - x)PVP-(x)PEG, were synthesized by wet chemical method in the presence of polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) and polyethylene glycol (PEG). A mixture of two stabilizing agent PVP and PEG is found to play a crucial role in controlling the morphology of nanocrystalline silver particles in the composite. This is inferred based on the shape and size study of nanocrystalline silver using the X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, Uv-vis spectroscopy, FTIR, and surface enhance Raman studies.

Colossal piezoresistance in phase separated manganites.

We have measured the strain dependent transport properties of phase separated manganite thin films. We subjected (La(1-y)Pr(y))(1-x)Ca(x)MnO(3) thin films grown on NdGaO(3)(110) substrates to direct external mechanical stress using a three-point beam bending method. The resultant change in resistance reveals a colossal piezoresistance (CPR) in manganites.

Intrinsic tunneling in phase separated manganites.

We present evidence of direct electron tunneling across intrinsic insulating regions in submicrometer wide bridges of the phase-separated ferromagnet (La,Pr,Ca)MnO3. Upon cooling below the Curie temperature, a predominantly ferromagnetic supercooled state persists where tunneling across the intrinsic tunnel barriers (ITBs) results in metastable, temperature-independent, high-resistance plateaus over a large range of temperatures. Upon application of a magnetic field, our data reveal that the ITBs are extinguished resulting in sharp, colossal, low-field resistance drops.

Origin of the anomalous low temperature upturn in the resistivity of the electron-doped cuprate superconductors.

The temperature, doping, and field dependences of the magnetoresistance (MR) in Pr2-xCexCuO4-delta films are reported. We distinguish between orbital MR, found when the magnetic field is applied perpendicular to the ab planes, and the nearly isotropic spin MR. The latter, the major MR effect in the superconducting samples, appears in the region of the doping-temperature phase diagram where drho/dT<0, or an upturn in the resistivity appears.