Factors influencing anti-retroviral therapy uptake among HIV positive and exposed children aged below 14 years in Meru North District, Kenya

Background: Anti-retroviral Therapy (ART) is a major intervention for children infected and exposed to HIV infection and it influences their morbidity and mortality.Objective: To investigate factors influencing ARV uptake in HIV positive and exposed children aged below 14 years in Meru North District.Design: A descriptive cross-sectional study.Setting: The Nyambene District Hospital, Miathene Sub - District Hospital and Maua Methodist Hospital paediatrics comprehensive care clinics (PCCC) in Meru North District.Subjects: Parents or guardians with children less than 14 years of age exposed or infected with HIV who visited the selected health facilities.Results: About 222 caregivers were interviewed with mean age of 38.4 + 10.3 years ranging from 21 to 70 years. About 120 (54.0%) were aged between 30 to 39 years, Most of the caregivers 106 (47.7%) had acquired education up to primary level. Marital status of the caregivers revealed that 104 (46.8%) were married while 16 (6.3%) were cohabiting. Relationship between children ARV uptake and marital status of caregiver was significant (OR= 2.1, 95% C.I= 1.0 – 4.6, P=0.050). Significant association between source of medical advice and children ARV uptake (P<0.05) was evident.Conclusion: Achieving widespread public health benefits of ARV roll-out requires community - level interventions in marriages and information distribution to ensure local acceptability of antiretroviral drugs. Better management and improvement of health status of HIV exposed and infected children will be enhanced by improved ARV uptake.Recommendation: The study recommends integration and decentralization of ARV services through social supports, encouraging disclosure of HIV statuses for positive living and enhanced ARV uptake and enhanced awareness creation on ARVs and HIV information to caregivers at all levels

FEATURES OF TECHNOLOGIES CREATE INTERACTIVE ELECTRONIC DOCUMENT FOR SUPPORT OF LABORATORY PRACTICAL PHYSICS

The article discusses the content of the «flash-book» construct, defining its properties and possible components. There are presented some examples of components programming steps of “authoring flash – book”, considered the possibility of using such an electronic document to optimize the learning process at the Technical University in the performance of laboratory training on general physics. The technique of its using to provide individualized approach to learning and the use of various experimental base from classical to digital equipment laboratories is proposed. It was carried out the analysis of ways to improve such interactive electronic document for the development of information technology competence of engineering students

Precorneal retention time of ocular lubricants measured with fluorophotometry in healthy dogs

Objective: Determine the precorneal retention time of five different ocular lubricants commonly used in dogs. Animals Studied: Six healthy Beagle dogs (n = 12 eyes). Procedures: Five ocular lubricants were studied: Artificial Tears Solution® (1.4% polyvinyl alcohol), I-Drop® Vet Plus (0.25% hyaluronate), Optixcare® Eye Lube Plus (0.25% hyaluronate), Systane® Ultra (0.4% polyethylene glycol 400 and 0.3% propylene glycol), and Artificial Tears Ointment® (mineral oil/white petrolatum). Each lubricant was mixed with 10% sodium fluorescein to achieve 1% fluorescein formulations. Following topical administration of 35 mg in each eye, tear fluid was collected with capillary tubes at selected times (0, 1, 5, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 90, 120, 180 min) and fluorescein concentrations were measured with a computerized scanning ocular fluorophotometer. Results: Tear fluorescence was significantly greater with Artificial Tears Ointment® compared with other lubricant formulations from 1 to 20 min post-administration. Median (range) precorneal retention times were significantly different among the 5 lubricants, ranging from 40 minutes (20–90 min) for Artificial Tears Ointment®, 35 min (20–90 min) for Systane® Ultra, 30 min (10–60 min) for I-Drop® Vet Plus, 25 min (10–60 min) for Optixcare® Eye Lube Plus, and 10 min (10–20 min) for Artificial Tears Solution®. Precorneal retention time was significantly lower for Artificial Tears Solution® compared with the other 4 formulations. Conclusions: This study established normative data for the retention time of common lubricants on the ocular surface of dogs, which may be used to guide clinicians with their choice of lubricant and frequency of administration.This article is published as Bedos, L., R. A. Allbaugh, M. Roy, M. A. Kubai, and L. Sebbag. "Precorneal retention time of ocular lubricants measured with fluorophotometry in healthy dogs." 26, no. S1 Veterinary Ophthalmology (2023): 81-88. DOI: 10.1111/vop.13065. Copyright 2023 The Authors. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). Posted with permission

Increased drug concentration and repeated eye drop administration as strategies to optimize topical drug delivery: A fluorophotometric study in healthy dogs

Objectives Determine tear film kinetics with different fluorescein concentrations and repeated eye drop administration at various time intervals. Animals Studied Six healthy Beagles. Procedures Six experiments were conducted on separate days: single eye drop administration (control) or two separate eye drops administered at 30 s, 1, 2, 5, and 10 min intervals. For each experiment, one eye received 0.3% fluorescein solution while the other eye received 1% fluorescein solution, and tear fluid was collected with capillary tubes at 0, 1, 5, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 90, 120, and 180 min. Fluorescein concentrations were measured using automated fluorophotometry. Results Compared with 0.3% solution, eyes receiving 1% fluorescein solution had significantly higher tear film concentrations (p ≤ .046) and the area-under-the-fluorescein-time curve was twofold greater (p = .005). Compared with control: (i) Tear film concentrations were significantly higher for up to 20 min when repeating administration 30 s to 5 min after the first drop (p ≤ .006); (ii) The highest increase in area-under-the-curve was obtained with 2 and 5 min intervals for 0.3% (+109%–130%) and 1% solutions (+153%–157%); (iii) The highest increase in median precorneal retention time (defined as tear film concentration < 5% from baseline values) was obtained with 5 min intervals for 0.3% (55 min vs. 15 min in control) and 2–5 min intervals for 1% solutions (50 min vs. 25 min in control). Conclusions Drug delivery to the ocular surface can be enhanced by using more concentrated formulations and/or by repeating eye drop administration 2–5 min after the first dose.This article is published as Page LE, Kubai MA, Allbaugh RA, Bedos L, Roy MM, Mochel JP, Sebbag L. Increased drug concentration and repeated eye drop administration as strategies to optimize topical drug delivery: A fluorophotometric study in healthy dogs. Vet Ophthalmol. 2023 Jun 23. doi: 10.1111/vop.13125.© 2023 The Authors. Veterinary Ophthalmology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American College of Veterinary Ophthalmologists. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.<br