Water resources are an essential component of a country’s natural resource potential. Pressure on these resources is set to increase due to increased water demand, climate change and rainfall variability. This could lead to conflicts between sectoral users, within or between countries, especially among transboundary countries. Interest in transboundary water resources is a priority, especially where issues such as uncertainty regarding the status of transboundary waterbodies and reductions in water volume persist. In this study, we used the feed-forward neural network to forecast water demand along the Nile River in two countries, Egypt and Kenya. Two scenarios were modelled. Input data for the first scenario included preceding records of precipitation, gross domestic product, population and water use in the agricultural sector. The second scenario observed the effects of the growing economy on water resources by doubling the gross domestic product and keeping all other inputs constant. For Kenya, the results projected a steady increase in water demand throughout the next 20 years for both scenarios. However, for Egypt, the observed trend in both scenarios was a decline in water demand, followed by a steady increase. The results underscore the importance of forecasting for easier future planning and management, and to help governing bodies along transboundary water resources develop timely strategies in the future to alleviate future water shortages and poor management of water resources.
14 December 2023 in Science of The Total Environment
Objective: Accessibility to quality healthcare, histopathology of tumor, tumor stage and geographical location influence survival rates. Comprehending the bases of these differences in cervical cancer survival rate, as well as the variables linked to poor prognosis, is critical to improving survival. We aimed to perform the first thorough meta-analysis and systematic review of cervical cancer survival times in Africa based on race, histopathology, geographical location and age.Methods and materials: Major electronic databases were searched for articles published about cervical cancer survival rate in Africa. The eligible studies involved studies which reported 1-year, 3-year or 5-year overall survival (OS), disease-free survival (DFS) and/or locoregional recurrence (LRR) rate of cervical cancer patients living in Africa. Two reviewers independently chose the studies and evaluated the quality of the selected publications, in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA-P). We used random effects analysis to pooled the survival rate across studies and heterogeneity was explored via sub-group and meta-regression analyses. A leave-one-out sensitivity analysis was undertaken, as well as the reporting bias assessment. Our findings were reported in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA-P).Results: A total of 16,122 women with cervical cancer were covered in the 45 articles (59 studies), with research sample sizes ranging from 22 to 1,059 (median = 187.5). The five-year overall survival (OS) rate was 40.9% (95% CI: 35.5–46.5%). The five-year OS rate ranged from 3.9% (95% CI: 1.9–8.0%) in Malawi to as high as 76.1% (95% CI: 66.3–83.7%) in Ghana. The five-year disease-free survival rate was 66.2% (95% CI: 44.2–82.8%) while the five-year locoregional rate survival was 57.0% (95% CI: 41.4–88.7%).Conclusion: To enhance cervical cancer survival, geographical and racial group health promotion measures, as well as prospective genetic investigations, are critically required.
24 February 2020 in International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications