Epidemiology of low back pain among nurses working in public hospitals of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Background: Low back pain (LBP) related to Nursing Profession, is a very common public health problem throughout the world. Various risk factors have been implicated in the etiology and LBP is assumed to be of multi-factorial origin as individual, work-related and psychosocial factors can contribute to its development. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and to identify the risk factors of LBP among Nurses working in Addis Ababa City Public Hospitals, Ethiopia, in the year 2015. Addis Ababa University, Black-Lion (‘Tikur Anbessa’) Hospital-BLH, is the country’s highest tertiary level referral and teaching Hospital. The three departments in connection with this study: Radiology, Pathology and Orthopedics, run undergraduate and residency programs and receive referred patients from all over the country.Methods: A cross-sectional study with internal comparison was conducted throughout the period October-December, 2015. Sample was chosen by simple random sampling technique by taken the lists of Nurses from human resource departments as a sampling frame. A well-structured, pre-tested and selfadministered questionnaire was used to collect quantifiable information. The questionnaire included socio-demographic, back pain features, consequences of back pain, work-related and psychosocial factors. The collected data was entered in to epiinfo version 3.5.4 and was analyzed by SPSS. A probability level of 0.05 or less and 95% confidence level was used to indicate statistical significance. Ethical clearance was obtained from all respected administrative bodies, Hospitals and study participants.Results: The study included 395 Nurses and gave a response rate of 91.9%. The mean age was 30.6 (±8.4) years. Majority of the respondents were female (285, 72.2%). Nearly half of the participants (n=181, 45.8% (95% CI (40.8%- 50.6%))) were complained Low Back Pain. There were statistical significant association between Low Back Pain and working shift, physical activities at work; sleep disturbance and felt little pleasure by doing things.Conclusion: A high prevalence of Low Back Pain was found among Nurses working in Addis Ababa Public Hospitals. Recognition & Preventive measures like providing resting periods should be taken to reduce the risk of Low Back Pain in Nurses working in Public hospitalsKeywords: LBP Risk factors, Low back pain, Nurses, Work-Shift, and Public Hospital

Patterns of common skin infections among children living with HIV/AIDS in Hawassa City, Ethiopia: a cross sectional study.

ObjectivesSkin disorders are the most common health problems seen among HIV positive patients. It presents with a variety of manifestations which can cause significant morbidity. This study was aimed to assess the prevalence of common skin problems among children living with HIV/AIDS at Hawassa University Comprehensive Specialized Hospital, Hawassa, Ethiopia, 2017/2018. Hospital based cross-sectional study was conducted among 125 children living with HIV/AIDS who were recruited through simple random sampling techniques from February to April 2017. Pre-tested, structured questionnaires were used to collect the data.ResultAmong a total of 125 study participants, 72 (57.6%) of the children were males and 97 (77.6%) were in the age range of 10-14 years. 90 (72%) of participants had different kinds of skin problems. Among those who had one kind of common skin infection, 53 (42.4%) were males. Viral skin infections that accounts 48 (53.3%), were the leading cause of skin infections followed by 43 (47.8%), 33(36.7%) and 22 (24.7%) fungal infections, inflammatory and bacterial skin infections respectively. Among all children who were taking ART, only 2.4% of the children had skin related side effects

Knowledge and practice on adequate sunlight exposure of infants among mothers attending EPI unit of Aleta Wondo Health Center, SNNPR, Ethiopia.

ObjectiveThe main objective of this study was to assess knowledge and practice of adequate sunlight exposure of infants among mothers attending EPI unit at Aleta Wondo Health Center, Sidama zone, SNNPR, Ethiopia. Institutional based descriptive cross sectional study design was used. 313 mothers who had under 1 year child and immunization follow-up were selected by simple random sampling technique using immunization registration book as sampling frame.ResultOut of 313 respondents identified for the study 98.03% (n = 307) were responded for the interview. From the total respondents 279 (90.9%) of respondents exposed their infants to sunlight but only 62 (22%) of them exposed adequately. From 307 mothers, 191 (62.2%) are knowledgeable about sunlight exposure and 91 (32.6%) of mothers had good practice of exposing their infants to sunlight

Sphingosine 1-Phosphate Receptor Modulator Fingolimod (FTY720) Attenuates Myocardial Fibrosis in Post-heterotopic Heart Transplantation

Background and Objective: Sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P), and S1P receptor modulator fingolimod have been suggested to play important cardioprotective role in animal models of myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injuries. To understand the cardioprotective function of S1P and its mechanism in vivo, we analyzed apoptotic, inflammatory biomarkers, and myocardial fibrosis in an in vivo heterotopic rat heart transplantation model.Methods: Heterotopic heart transplantation is performed in 60 Sprague–Dawley (SD) rats (350–400 g). The heart transplant recipients (n = 60) are categorized into Group A (control) and Group B (fingolimod treated 1 mg/kg intravenous). At baseline with 24 h after heart transplantation, blood and myocardial tissue are collected for analysis of myocardial biomarkers, apoptosis, inflammatory markers, oxidative stress, and phosphorylation of Akt/Erk/STAT-3 signaling pathways. Myocardial fibrosis was investigated using Masson’s trichrome staining and L-hydroxyline.Results: Fingolimod treatment activates both Reperfusion Injury Salvage Kinase (RISK) and Survivor Activating Factor Enhancement (SAFE) pathways as evident from activation of anti-apoptotic and anti-inflammatory pathways. Fingolimod treatment caused a reduction in myocardial oxidative stress and hence cardiomyocyte apoptosis resulting in a decrease in myocardial reperfusion injury. Moreover, a significant (p < 0.001) reduction in collagen staining and hydroxyproline content was observed in fingolimod treated animals 30 days after transplantation demonstrating a reduction in cardiac fibrosis.Conclusion: S1P receptor activation with fingolimod activates anti-apoptotic and anti-inflammatory pathways, leading to improved myocardial salvage causing a reduction in cardiac fibrosis

A systematic review and meta-analysis of the prevalence and predictors of anemia among children in Ethiopia

Background: Anemia is a wide-spread public health problem characterized by a decrease in hemoglobin concentration and/ or red blood cell volume below an established cut-off value. In developing countries including Ethiopia, about half of children are estimated to be anemic. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the pooled prevalence of anemia and its predictor factors among children in Ethiopia. Method: The studies were identified through explicit and exhaustive search of reputable databases (PubMed, Google schol-ar, Science Direct, EMBASE, Cochrane library, and the hand search of reference lists of previous prevalence studies to retrieve more related articles. Thirty-nine studies were selected based on a comprehensive list of inclusion and exclusion criteria. Data were extracted using a standardized and pre-tested data extraction checklist, and the analysis was done using STATA 14 statistical software. To assess heterogeneity, the Cochrane Q test statistic and I2 tests were used. In our analysis, considerable heterogeneity was observed. Therefore, a random effect meta-analysis model was used to estimate the pooled prevalence of anemia. Moreover, the predictor factors of anemia were examined. Results: The forest plot of 39 included studies revealed that the overall pooled prevalence of anemia among children in Ethiopia was 34.4% (95% CI: 29.1, 39.7%). Sub-group analysis showed that the highest anemia prevalence was observed in Somali Region with a prevalence of 49.4 % (95% CI: 20.9, 77.8). Also, anemia in children was found to be highest in the age group of less than five years (45.2, 95% CI: 39.6,50.8). Low literacy of families: 1.3 (95% CI: 1.1, 1.7), low family socioeconomic status: 1.9 (95% CI: 1.1,3.01.3), having housewife mothers or with no job: 1.5 (95% CI: 1.4, 1.9) and rural residence: 3.3 (95% CI: 1.7,6.1) were found to be predictors of anemia among children. Conclusion: In this study, one in three children were anemic in Ethiopia. It is a moderate public health problem in children in this study. Low literacy, low socioeconomic status as well as rural residence of the families and helminthic infection of the children were found to be predictors of anemia in the children. Community and school-based interventions should be strengthened to improve the problem

In vitro Anti-Leishmanial Activities of Methanol Extract of Brucea antidysenterica J.F. Mill Seeds and Its Solvent Fractions

Tasisa Ketema,1 Markos Tadele,2 Zewdie Gebrie,1 Eyasu Makonnen,1,3 Asrat Hailu,3,4 Solomon M Abay1 1Department of Pharmacology and Clinical Pharmacy, School of Pharmacy, College of Health Science, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; 2Animal Health Research Program, Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research, Holetta, Ethiopia; 3Center for Innovative Drug Development and Therapeutic Trials for Africa (CDT Africa), College of Health Sciences, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; 4Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Parasitology, College of Health Sciences, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, EthiopiaCorrespondence: Solomon M Abay, Department of Pharmacology and Clinical Pharmacy, Addis Ababa University, Zambia Street, P.O. Box 9086, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Tel +251 941 222169, Email [email protected]: Leishmaniasis is one of the neglected tropical diseases, threatening lives of about 350 million people globally. Brucea antidysenterica seeds are used for the treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis in the traditional medicine in Ethiopia.Objective: This study aimed to evaluate Brucea antidysenterica seeds’ anti-leishmanial activity in vitro.Methods: The crude (80% methanol) extract of Brucea antidysenterica seeds and its fractions were evaluated for their anti-leishmanial activities against promastigotes and intracellular amastigotes of Leishmania donovani and Leishmania aethiopica, and for their cytotoxic effects against mammalian cells. The quantitative estimations of total phenolic compounds (TPCs), flavonoids (TFCs) and alkaloids (TACs) were determined, spectrophotometrically. Median inhibitory concentration (IC50) and median cytotoxic concentration (CC50) of the extract and its solvent fractions were calculated using GraphPad Prism 9.1.0 computer software. Data was presented as mean ± standard error of the mean (SEM).Results: The crude extract and its hexane, ethyl acetate and butanol fractions showed anti-leishmanial activities, with IC50 values of 4.14– 60.12 μg/mL against promastigotes, and 6.16– 40.12 μg/mL against amastigotes of both Leishmania species. They showed moderate cytotoxicity against Vero cell lines and peritoneal mice macrophages, with CC50 values of 100– 500 μg/mL, but > 1600 μg/mL against red blood cells. Selectivity indices ranged from 7.97 to 30.97. The crude extract, and its ethyl acetate and hexane fractions possessed 54.78– 127.72 mg of gallic acid equivalent TPC, 18.30– 79.21 mg of quercetin equivalent TFC, and 27.62– 97.22 mg of atropine equivalent TAC per gram of extracts.Conclusion: The seeds of the plant possessed anti-leishmanial activities against L. aethiopica and L. donovani that might provide a scientific justification for its use in the treatment of leishmaniasis by traditional healers. Future works are recommended to isolate, purify and identify the possible secondary metabolites attributed to the anti-leishmanial activity.Keywords: anti-leishmanial activity, Brucea antidysenterica seeds, Leishmania aethiopica, Leishmania donovani, promastigote, amastigot

Spatiotemporal trends of urban-induced land use and land cover change and implications on catchment surface imperviousness

Abstract Urbanization, changes in land use and land cover (LULC), and an increase in population collectively have significant impacts on urban catchments. However, a vast majority of LULC studies have been conducted using readily available satellite imagery, which often presents limitations due to its coarse spatial resolution. Such imagery fails to accurately depict the surface characteristics and diverse spectrum of LULC classifications contained within a single pixel. This study focused on the highly urbanized Dry Creek catchment in Adelaide, South Australia and aimed to determine the impact of urbanization on spatiotemporal changes in LULC and its implications for the land surface condition of the catchment. Very high spatial resolution imagery was utilized to examine changes in LULC over the past four decades. Support Vector Machine-learning-based image classification was utilized to classify and identify the changes in LULC over the study area. The classification accuracy showed strong agreement, with a kappa value greater than 0.8. The findings of this analysis showed that extensive urban development, which expanded the built-up area by 34 km2, were responsible for the decline in grass cover by 43.1 km2 over the last 40 years (1979–2019). Moreover, built-up areas, plantation, and water features, in contrast to grass cover, have demonstrated an increasing trend during the study period. The overall urban expansion over the study period was 136.6%. Urbanization intensified impervious area coverage, increasing the runoff coefficient, equivalent impervious area, and curve number by 60.6%, 60.6%, and 7.9%, respectively, while decreasing the retention capacity by 38.6%. These modifications suggest a potential variability in catchment surface runoff, prompting the need for further research to understand the surface runoff changes brought by the changes in LULC resulting from urbanization. The findings of this study can be used for land use planning and flood management

Trichiasis ercurrence in Nother Ethiopia: a one year prospecitve study of Trachomatous Trichiasis surgery done by integrated eye care workers

No Abstract. Ethiopian Journal of Health Development Vol. 22 (1) 2008: pp. 8-1