BackgroundUnacceptably high maternal mortality rates remain a challenge in developing countries such as Tanzania. Birth Preparedness and Complication Readiness is among the key interventions that can reduce maternal mortality. Despite this, its status in Tanzania is not well documented. We assessed the practice and determinants of Birth preparedness and complication readiness among recently delivered women in Chamwino district, Central Tanzania.MethodsA community based cross-sectional study was conducted to women who delivered two years prior to survey in January 2014 at Chamwino district, Tanzania. Woman was considered as prepared for birth and its complication if she reported at least three of these; know expected date of delivery, saved money, identified a skilled birth attendant/health facility, mode of transport and Identified two compatible blood donors. Descriptive, bivariate and multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed at P value < 0.05 level of significance.ResultsWe interviewed 428 women whose median age (IQR) was 26.5 (22–33) years. About 249 (58.2 %) of the respondents were considered as prepared for birth and its complications. After controlling for confounding and clustering effect, significant determinants of birth preparedness and complication readiness were found to be maternal education (AOR = 2.26, 95 % CI; 1.39, 3.67), spouse employment (AOR = 2.18, 95 % CI; 1.46, 3.25), booking at ANC (AOR = 2.03, 95 % CI; 1.11, 3.72), Four or more antenatal visits, (AOR = 1.94, 95 % CI; 1.17, 3.21) and knowledge of key danger signs (AOR = 4.16, 95 % CI; 2.32, 7.45). Prepared for birth was found to be associated with institutional delivery (AOR = 2.45, 95 % CI; 1.12, 5.34).ConclusionThe proportion of women who prepared for birth and its complications were found to be low. District reproductive and child health coordinator should emphasis on early and frequent antenatal care visits, since they were among predictors of birth preparedness and complication readiness.

Highlights Effect of precursors on the catalytic performance of alumina. AN samples is higher activity than AC, while AN550 is the optimum one. The AN550 showed methanol conversion and DME selectivity of 72% and 100% at 250 °C, respectively. Acid site density affected catalytic performance among the catalysts with alumina phase. Synthesis of alumina catalyst with high activity compared to commercial γ-Al 2 O 3 .Page 3 of 33 A c c e p t e d M a n u s c r i p t Abstract Dimethyl ether (DME) is amongst one of the most promising alternative, renewable and clean fuels being considered as a future energy carrier. In this study, the comparative catalytic performance of γ-Al 2 O 3 prepared from two common precursors (aluminium nitrate (AN) and aluminium chloride (AC)) is presented. The impact of calcination temperature was evaluated in order to optimise both the precursor and pre-treatment conditions for the production of DME from methanol in a fixed bed reactor. The catalysts were characterized by TGA, XRD, BET and TPD-pyridine. Under reaction conditions where the temperature ranged from 180-300˚C with a WHSV= 12.1 h -1 it was found that all the catalysts prepared from AN(η-Al 2 O 3 ) showed higher activity, at all calcination temperatures, than those prepared from AC(γ-Al 2 O 3 ). In this study the optimum catalyst was produced from AN and calcined at 550 ˚C.This catalyst showed a high degree of stability and had double the activity of the commercial γ-Al 2 O 3 or 87% of the activity of commercial ZSM-5 (80) at 250 ˚C.

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Background: There is conflicting data regarding the use of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) in COVID-19 hospitalized patients Objective: To assess the efficacy of HCQ in increasing SARS-CoV-2 viral clearance Design: Retrospective observational study Setting: Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi Participants: Hospitalized adult patients with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection Intervention: None Measurements: The primary outcome was the time from a confirmed positive nasopharyngeal swab to turn negative. A negative nasopharyngeal swab conversion was defined as a confirmed SARS-CoV-2 case followed by two negative results using RT-PCR assay with samples obtained 24 hours apart Results: 34 confirmed COVID-19 patients were included. Nineteen (55.9%) patients presented with symptoms, and 14 (41.2%) had pneumonia. Only 21 (61.8%) patients received HCQ. The time to SARS-CoV-2 negativity nasopharyngeal test was significantly longer in patients who received HCQ compared to those who did not receive HCQ (17 [13-21] vs. 10 [4-13] days, p=0.023). HCQ was independently associated with time to negativity test after adjustment for potential confounders (symptoms, pneumonia or oxygen therapy) in multivariable linear regression analysis.On day 14, 47.8% (14/23) patients tested negative in the HCQ group compared to 90.9% (10/11) patients who did not receive HCQ (p=0.016).Limitations: Small sample size and retrospective design with a potential risk of selection bias Conclusion: HCQ was associated with a slower viral clearance in COVID-19 patients with mild to moderate disease. Data from ongoing randomized clinical trials with HCQ should provide a definitive answer regarding the efficacy and safety of this treatment.

Compared with girls, VLBW male newborns are at greater risk to develop IVH and severe IVH but not PVL. The association of male gender with IVH or severe IVH is stronger with higher BWs.

Purpose: To evaluate the effect of the depth of embryo transfer replacement on clinical pregnancy rate.Methods: Data from a total of 104 consecutive embryo transfers performed on 104 womenn aged 26-37 years were prospectively collected for this study. All patients underwent a standard down regulation protocol for ovarian stimulation. Oocytes retrieval were performed at 36 h after hCG administration. Embryo transfer took place at 48 h after insemination. The patients were matched in two groups according to the distance between the tip of the catheter and the uterine fundus at transfer (group A > 10 < 15 mm and group B ≤ 10 mm). The same method of loading embryos into the embryo transfer catheter was used.Results: Clinical pregnancy rates varied significantly (p ≤ 0.05) between the two groups: 27.7% in group A and 14% in group B. The number and quality of embryos transferred did not differ between the groups.Conclusions: The results suggest that the depth of embryo replacement may be an important variable in embryo transfer technique.

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