Hormonal contraception, sexual behaviour and HIV prevalence among women in Cameroon

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Data on the effect of contraceptive methods, other than the condom, on HIV acquisition is not clear. The aim of this study was to describe hormonal contraceptive use, sexual behaviour and HIV prevalence among women in Cameroon in order to provide baseline information for future analytical studies.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This is a cross-sectional descriptive study based a nationally representative sample of 4486 sexually active women aged 15–49 years who participated in the 2004 Cameroon Demographic and Health Survey.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The overall HIV prevalence was 7.4% (332/4486). The HIV prevalence was higher in the 25–35 year age group (10.03%), urban residents (9.39%), and formerly married (18.48%), compared to their compatriots. The prevalence was lower in women with five or more living child (3.67%), women in the low wealth index category (3.79%) and women who had no formal education (3.37%). The HIV prevalence was higher among women who had two or more partners in the last 12 months (10.26%) and women who reported to have had four or more partners in their lifetime (12.40%). The prevalence of HIV was higher among current hormonal contraceptive users (6.63%) compared to the current non-users (3.06%), among ever users of hormonal contraception (13.27%) compared to the never users (7.11%).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We conclude that the prevalence of HIV among sexually active women in Cameroon varies according to sociodemographic characteristics, sexual behaviour and hormonal contraceptive use. Our findings underscore the need to counsel women using hormonal contraception to be aware that hormonal methods do not protect against HIV infection. Given the biologic plausibility of the link between hormonal contraception and HIV infection, future research should focus on carefully designed prospective studies to establish the temporal relationship and estimate the incidence of HIV infection among women using and not using hormonal contraceptive methods.</p

An overview of anti-diabetic plants used in Gabon: Pharmacology and Toxicology

© 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Ethnopharmacological relevance: The management of diabetes mellitus management in African communities, especially in Gabon, is not well established as more than 60% of population rely on traditional treatments as primary healthcare. The aim of this review was to collect and present the scientific evidence for the use of medicinal plants that are in currect by Gabonese traditional healers to manage diabetes or hyperglycaemia based here on the pharmacological and toxicological profiles of plants with anti-diabetic activity. There are presented in order to promote their therapeutic value, ensure a safer use by population and provide some bases for further study on high potential plants reviewed. Materials and methods: Ethnobotanical studies were sourced using databases such as Online Wiley library, Pubmed, Google Scholar, PROTA, books and unpublished data including Ph.D. and Master thesis, African and Asian journals. Keywords including ‘Diabetes’ ‘Gabon’ ‘Toxicity’ ‘Constituents’ ‘hyperglycaemia’ were used. Results: A total of 69 plants currently used in Gabon with potential anti-diabetic activity have been identified in the literature, all of which have been used in in vivo or in vitro studies. Most of the plants have been studied in human or animal models for their ability to reduce blood glucose, stimulate insulin secretion or inhibit carbohydrates enzymes. Active substances have been identified in 12 out of 69 plants outlined in this review, these include Allium cepa and Tabernanthe iboga. Only eight plants have their active substances tested for anti-diabetic activity and are suitables for further investigation. Toxicological data is scarce and is dose-related to the functional parameters of major organs such as kidney and liver. Conclusion: An in-depth understanding on the pharmacology and toxicology of Gabonese anti-diabetic plants is lacking yet there is a great scope for new treatments. With further research, the use of Gabonese anti-diabetic plants is important to ensure the safety of the diabetic patients in Gabon.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Jet size dependence of single jet suppression in lead-lead collisions at sqrt(s(NN)) = 2.76 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the LHC

Measurements of inclusive jet suppression in heavy ion collisions at the LHC provide direct sensitivity to the physics of jet quenching. In a sample of lead-lead collisions at sqrt(s) = 2.76 TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of approximately 7 inverse microbarns, ATLAS has measured jets with a calorimeter over the pseudorapidity interval |eta| < 2.1 and over the transverse momentum range 38 < pT < 210 GeV. Jets were reconstructed using the anti-kt algorithm with values for the distance parameter that determines the nominal jet radius of R = 0.2, 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5. The centrality dependence of the jet yield is characterized by the jet "central-to-peripheral ratio," Rcp. Jet production is found to be suppressed by approximately a factor of two in the 10% most central collisions relative to peripheral collisions. Rcp varies smoothly with centrality as characterized by the number of participating nucleons. The observed suppression is only weakly dependent on jet radius and transverse momentum. These results provide the first direct measurement of inclusive jet suppression in heavy ion collisions and complement previous measurements of dijet transverse energy imbalance at the LHC.Comment: 15 pages plus author list (30 pages total), 8 figures, 2 tables, submitted to Physics Letters B. All figures including auxiliary figures are available at http://atlas.web.cern.ch/Atlas/GROUPS/PHYSICS/PAPERS/HION-2011-02

Thrombosis in vasculitis: from pathogenesis to treatment

In recent years, the relationship between inflammation and thrombosis has been deeply investigated and it is now clear that immune and coagulation systems are functionally interconnected. Inflammation-induced thrombosis is by now considered a feature not only of autoimmune rheumatic diseases, but also of systemic vasculitides such as Behçet’s syndrome, ANCA-associated vasculitis or giant cells arteritis, especially during active disease. These findings have important consequences in terms of management and treatment. Indeed, Behçet’syndrome requires immunosuppressive agents for vascular involvement rather than anticoagulation or antiplatelet therapy, and it is conceivable that also in ANCA-associated vasculitis or large vessel-vasculitis an aggressive anti-inflammatory treatment during active disease could reduce the risk of thrombotic events in early stages. In this review we discuss thrombosis in vasculitides, especially in Behçet’s syndrome, ANCA-associated vasculitis and large-vessel vasculitis, and provide pathogenetic and clinical clues for the different specialists involved in the care of these patients

Does Anemia in Infancy Affect Achievement on Developmental and Intelligence Tests?

A surveillance program of growth and development from birth to five years of age was integrated into the preventive Maternal and Child Health Services in a west­ern neighborhood of Jerusalem. Hemoglobin (Hgb) determinations were done at 9 months of age and the Developmental Quotient (DQ) was assessed at 24 months (n = 873), and the Intelligence Quotient (IQ) at 3 years (n = 373) and 5 years (n = 230) of age. An increase in the DQ score and the IQ score were noted with an increase in the Hgb level. Mother’s education, social class, birth weight, hemoglobin and sex were included in an analysis of covariance. The model explained 12.8% of the variance at 24 months, 25.5% at 3 years and 37.1% at 5 years of age. The increase in DQ or IQ associated with a change of 1 gm/dl in Hgb, controlling for the other independent variables, was 0.6 DQ points at 24 months, 1.1 IQ points at 3 years and 1.75 IQ points at 5 years of age. It seems possible that iron deficiency anemia during infancy may affect subsequent development as measured by achievement tests, though the clear-cut contributing factors to DQ and IQ performance are the social variables such as educational standard of mother and biologic factors such as birth weight and sex

Henry and Ilse Adler Collection.

Transcript of a letter, which Ilse Adler received from her imprisoned mother Bella Graetz, née Acht, from Budapest in May of 1943. Handwritten description with biographical notes by Ilse Adler.Henry and Ilse Adler, 1995The handwritten original letter is in the archives at Yad Vashem, Jerusalemdigitize

Growth Pattern in the First Two Years of Life in an Israeli Child Population. The Effect of Biological and Social Factors on Weight and Length.

The physical growth pattern of infants from birth to two years of age was studied in a Jerusalem mostly lower middle class community. Age and sex specific means and percentiles for weight and length at 1, 6, 12 and 24 months are presented and compared to the NCHS reference population. The study population is lighter and shorter than the US standard. In an analysis of variance the effect of sex, birth weight, duration of gestation, birth order and mothers’ educational level on weight and length at 12 and 24 months was studied. A strong association was found between birth weight and weight and length at both ages. Mothers’ educational level was associated with length only. Birth weight and sex accounted for a higher percentage of the explained variance while birth order and duration of gestation explained less than 1% of the variance. The correlation between the weight measurements and the length measurements increased with age. No statistically significant difference was found between the correlations of the purely longitudinal sample and the correlation based on all possible pairs of measurements, indicating that for some aspects of longitudinal studies a pure longitudinal sample may not be necessary