Determinants of Urban Poverty in Ethiopia: The Case of Jimma Town, South West Ethiopia

The objective of this study is to identify determinants of urban poverty in Jimma town. In order to meet the objectives of the study, cross sectional, descriptive and explanatory, research design applied. The sampling technique of the study used stratified and simple random sampling was employed to select households. Information has gathered a sample of 397 household heads were through primary and secondary data. A Logit model was employed and estimated based on the primary data, with the probability of a household being poor as a dependent variable and a set of demographic and socioeconomic variables as the explanatory parameters. By Considering total household consumption and dividing it by the household adult equivalent size, from sample of 397 surveyed household heads, the head count, poverty gap, and severity index of the survey obtained as 66%, 17.8% and 3.16 respectively. The finding revealed that variables that are positively correlated with the probability of being poor are gender, family size, employment/occupation and health/disease incidence of the household. Variables negatively correlated with probability of being poor are: income, educational level, and marital status, age of house hold, housing, house hold residence and saving. The major significance which affected significantly the incidences of poverty in the town are: education, income, age, saving, housing, gender, occupation, family size, previous residence, health and employment. The study concluded that most important determinants of urban poverty in the study area that plays a significant role in affecting incidence poverty are income, education and saving are the major implication to incidence of poverty. Study recommended that strong negative relationship between income, education, saving, housing, and residence with the probability of being poor point out that a need to consider government and non-government organization in designing strategy and policies targeted to curb urban poverty. Keywords: Urban poverty, Jimma Town, House hold-level, analysis DOI: 10.7176/CER/13-4-01 Publication date:June 30th 202

Critical care support of patients with nicotine addiction

Over 500 million of the current world population will die from diseases caused by smoking cigarettes. The symptoms and signs of nicotine withdrawal are not well described in the critically ill. Since the various conditions of critical illness may lead to clinical manifestations mimicking nicotine withdrawal, describing its specific manifestations may not be easy. A few case reports suggest that nicotine replacement therapy may ameliorate nicotine withdrawal in the critically ill. However, retrospective studies have found that it may increase mortality. Despite the abundance of active smokers, there is a paucity of data describing nicotine withdrawal, and its prevention and treatment options in the critically ill. Future studies are warranted to address these issues

Bacteremia in hospitalized patients with human immunodeficiency virus: A prospective, cohort study

BACKGROUND: Bacterial infections complicate the course of patients with human immunodeficiency virus infection. The purpose of this study was to describe the bacterial pathogens causing blood stream infection, identify the risk factors for the development of blood stream infection and determine the impact of blood stream infection on the outcome of patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus. METHODS: The incidence, etiology, risk factors and outcome of bacterial blood stream infection were prospectively determined in 1,225 consecutive hospitalizations of adults with human immunodeficiency virus infection. RESULTS: Blood stream infection occurred in 88 hospitalizations (7%); 73 of 89 infections (82%) were community acquired. The most commonly isolated gram-positive organism was Streptococcus pneumoniae (21); gram-negative, Escherichia coli (14). Blood stream infection was detected in 8% of African Americans and 22% of Hispanics compared with 2% of whites (P = 0.0013). Patients with blood stream infection had higher white blood cell counts (median, 6.5 vs. 4.9 × 10(9)/L; P = 0.0002) and mortality (18% vs. 4%; P < 0.0001) than patients without infection. CONCLUSIONS: In patients with human immunodeficiency virus, blood stream infection is associated with an increased mortality rate. Recognition of the incidence, etiology, and risk factors of blood stream infection in patients with human immunodeficiency virus infection could lead to measures that reduce the increased mortality

The initial Mayo Clinic experience using high-frequency oscillatory ventilation for adult patients: a retrospective study

BACKGROUND: High-frequency oscillatory ventilation (HFOV) was introduced in our institution in June 2003. Since then, there has been no protocol to guide the use of HFOV, and all decisions regarding ventilation strategies and settings of HFOV were made by the treating intensivist. The aim of this study is to report our first year of experience using HFOV. METHODS: In this retrospective study, we reviewed all 14 adult patients, who were consecutively ventilated with HFOV in the intensive care units of a tertiary medical center, from June 2003 to July 2004. RESULTS: The mean age of the patients was 56 years, 10 were males, and all were whites. The first day median APACHE II score and its predicted hospital mortality were 35 and 83%, respectively, and the median SOFA score was 11.5. Eleven patients had ARDS, two unilateral pneumonia with septic shock, and one pulmonary edema. Patients received conventional ventilation for a median of 1.8 days before HFOV. HFOV was used 16 times for a median of 3.2 days. Improvements in oxygenation parameters were observed after 24 hours of HFOV (mean PaO(2)/FIO(2 )increased from 82 to 107, P < 0.05; and the mean oxygenation index decreased from 42 to 29; P < 0.05). In two patients HFOV was discontinued, in one because of equipment failure and in another because of severe hypotension that was unresponsive to fluids. No change in mean arterial pressure, or vasopressor requirements was noted after the initiation of HFOV. Eight patients died (57 %, 95% CI: 33–79); life support was withdrawn in six and two suffered cardiac arrest. CONCLUSION: During our first year of experience, HFOV was used as a rescue therapy in very sick patients with refractory hypoxemia, and improvement in oxygenation was observed after 24 hours of this technique. HFOV is a reasonable alternative when a protective lung strategy could not be achieved on conventional ventilation