Search results for " Ethiopia"

Archaeology and ichnology at Gombore II-2, Melka Kunture, Ethiopia: everyday life of a mixed age hominin group 700,000 years ago

2018

AbstractWe report the occurrence at 0.7 million years (Ma) of an ichnological assemblage at Gombore II-2, which is one of several archaeological sites at Melka Kunture in the upper Awash Valley of Ethiopia, 2000 m asl. Adults and children potentially as young as 12 months old left tracks in a silty substrate on the shore of a body of water where ungulates, as well as other mammals and birds, congregated. Furthermore, the same layers contain a rich archaeological and palaeontological record, confirming that knapping was taking place in situ and that stone tools were used for butchering hippo carcasses at the site. The site gives direct information on hominin landscape use at 0.7 Ma and may p…

Field performance of HBsAg rapid diagnostic tests in rural Ethiopia.

2020

Abstract Point-of-care rapid diagnostic tests (POC-RDTs) are widely used to screen and diagnose hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and are often the only available diagnostic tools in resource-limited settings. The aim of this study was to evaluate the validity of three hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) POC-RDTs (Healgen®, Advanced Quality™ and Determine™) in an area with high prevalence of HBV in eastern Ethiopia. Results were compared with a commercial enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) as gold standard. Quantification of HBsAg was performed in false negative samples. A total of 511 subjects were screened, of whom 81 (15.9 %) were HBsAg-positive with the gold standard. All three P…

Informal laws and state law in the horn of Africa

2019

This essay examines the relationship existing between informal law and state laws in the four countries of the Horn of Africa from an historical and comparative perspective. Such relation is considered from the time when the four countries became independent, however reference is also made from time to time to the colonial background when necessary to justify a particular situation. The analysis casts also an eye to the relation existing between religious laws and state laws, as religious laws represent an essential component in the interaction between state laws and the other normative orders present in these four countries. The essay concludes with some recommendations for the improvement…

Climate variability and agricultural production efficiency: evidence from Ethiopian farmers

2020

It is known that climate and weather variability have negative impacts on agricultural production efficiency. The aim of this study is to analyse the impact of climatic variables on farms’ efficiency in Ethiopia making use of nationally representative datasets from Living Standards Measurement Study–Integrated Surveys on Agriculture (LSMS-ISA) 2011/2012. By using the Stochastic Frontier Approach, we estimate simultaneously the farmers’ optimal production function and technical inefficiency equations, taking into account unobserved heterogeneity of farmers. Our main findings show that climate change variables have a positive effect on households’ efficiency but the impact depends on the diff…

Orthoptera (Insecta: Tettigonioidea, Pyrgomorphoidea, Acridoidea) of Kafa Biosphere Reserve, Bale Mountains National Park and other areas of conserva…

2016

An annotated checklist of 51 Orthoptera taxa (Tettigonioidea, Pyrgomorphoidea and Acridoidea) of Kafa Biosphere Reserve, Bale Mountains National Park and some additional sites in Ethiopia is presented. Ten species are newly recorded for the country. Four species are new to science: Peropyrrhicia attilioi n. sp., P. keffensis n. sp., P. semiensis n. sp. and Coryphosima danieli n. sp. The status of Peropyrrhicia cooperi Uvarov, 1934 and P. scotti Uvarov, 1934 is revised: both are considered valid species.

Local increase of arginase activity in lesions of patients with cutaneous leishmaniasis in Ethiopia.

2012

Background Cutaneous leishmaniasis is a vector-borne disease that is in Ethiopia mainly caused by the parasite Leishmania aethiopica. This neglected tropical disease is common in rural areas and causes serious morbidity. Persistent nonhealing cutaneous leishmaniasis has been associated with poor T cell mediated responses; however, the underlying mechanisms are not well understood. Methodology/Principal Findings We have recently shown in an experimental model of cutaneous leishmaniasis that arginase-induced L-arginine metabolism suppresses antigen-specific T cell responses at the site of pathology, but not in the periphery. To test whether these results translate to human disease, we recruit…

Arginase activity in the blood of patients with visceral leishmaniasis and HIV infection.

2013

Background Visceral leishmaniasis is a parasitic disease associated with high mortality. The most important foci of visceral leishmaniasis in Ethiopia are in the Northwest and are predominantly associated with high rates of HIV co-infection. Co-infection of visceral leishmaniasis patients with HIV results in higher mortality, treatment failure and relapse. We have previously shown that arginase, an enzyme associated with immunosuppression, was increased in patients with visceral leishmaniasis and in HIV seropositive patients; further our results showed that high arginase activity is a marker of disease severity. Here, we tested the hypothesis that increased arginase activities associated wi…

The role of herbaria for taxonomic and distributional studies in Characeae: examples from the Herbarium Mediterraneum Panormitanum (PAL) and the Flor…

2018

Characeae is a taxonomically critical family. Taxonomical uncertainties inevitably affect its distributional data. The role of herbarium specimens, particularly types and original material, is crucial for unravelling taxonomical ‘knots’. Moreover, wet areas have undergone dramatic reduction and modification in the last century and historical herbarium specimens may represent basic documents for the reconstruction of former distributions. Some preliminary data from two different Italian Herbaria are here presented. The Herbarium Mediterraneum Panormitanum (PAL, the standard acronym according to the Index herbariorum, http://sweetgum.nybg.org/ ih) houses four folders of Characeae exsiccata. T…

International Environmental Conventions: the conservation of biodiversity and Moringa stenopetala

2012

La simbologia del potere nella comunicazione diplomatica: i doni di Cambise al re degli Etiopi macrobioi

2010

Language acquired great importance in ancient diplomacy. The success or failure of a diplomatic mission depended greatly upon the ambassador’s skills of persuasion, a product of the efficacy of his words and their suitability to his audience. The ambassador had to be able to choose the most appropriate words to reach the objectives of his mission. The measure of his competence was his capacity to recognize the position of his listener, without undervaluing ideas, preconceptions, and potential reactions. Nevertheless, in certain cases, an ambassador’s ethnographic knowledge of the context where he had to operate determined the successful outcome of a mission. Such knowledge manifested itself…