Eliminating the barriers to uptake of cataract surgery in a resource‑poor setting: A focus on direct surgical cost

Background: Cataract remains a leading cause of blindness worldwide. Despite the high therapeutic efficacy of cataract surgical interventions, surgical uptake has been sub‑optimal, especially in low‑ and middle‑income countries.Objective: The objective was to investigate the effect of surgical fee reduction on the uptake of cataract surgical services at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH) Enugu.Methods: In a retrospective comparative study, all patients who underwent cataract surgery at UNTH between January 2008 and December 2011 were identified from the eye theatre’s surgical logbook. Their clinical charts were recalled and relevant demographic and clinical data were abstracted, categorized into pre (January 2008 to December 2009, Group A), and post (January 2010 to December 2011, Group B) surgical fee reduction groups. Descriptive and comparative statistical analyses were performed.Results: A total of 376 cataract surgeries (Group A, 164 [43.6%]; Group B, 212 [56.4%]) was performed during the 4‑year study period. The surgeries were performed on 217 males, and 159 females aged 55.4 ± 23.4 standard deviation years (range, 7 months to 89 years). The average annual uptake of cataract surgery was 94 overall, 82 pre and 106 postsurgical fee reductions. The two groups did not differ significantly by age (P = 0.8750) or gender (P = 0.8337).Conclusion: There is low uptake of cataract surgery at UNTH Enugu. Direct surgical fee reduction alone caused only a modest increase in uptake without alteration in age and gender balance. Further fee reduction and exploration of other uptake barriers are warranted.Key words: Cataract surgery, surgical cost, uptak

Synthesis of Positron Emission Tomography (PET) Images via Multi-channel Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs)

Positron emission tomography (PET) image synthesis plays an important role, which can be used to boost the training data for computer aided diagnosis systems. However, existing image synthesis methods have problems in synthesizing the low resolution PET images. To address these limitations, we propose multi-channel generative adversarial networks (M-GAN) based PET image synthesis method. Different to the existing methods which rely on using low-level features, the proposed M-GAN is capable to represent the features in a high-level of semantic based on the adversarial learning concept. In addition, M-GAN enables to take the input from the annotation (label) to synthesize the high uptake regions e.g., tumors and from the computed tomography (CT) images to constrain the appearance consistency and output the synthetic PET images directly. Our results on 50 lung cancer PET-CT studies indicate that our method was much closer to the real PET images when compared with the existing methods.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figure

Ethnozoologie de la faune mammalogique de la foret classee de badenou (Korhogo, Côte-d’Ivoire)

La faune des mammifères de la forêt classée de Badénou (Korhogo) est peu connue. Une étude ethnozoologique et des inventaires fauniques entre 1994 et 1998 ont permis de dresser, pour la première fois, une liste de 45 espèces de mammifères appartenant à 36 genres, 20 familles et 9 ordres. Les résultats montrent une faune bien connue des populations riveraines. Cette faune joue un rôle important, dans l'alimentation et les us et coutumes. L'utilisation des produits secondaires de la faune, et de la chasse desubsistance, demeurent incontrôlés et s'orientent vers la seule demande de marché. Elle correspond ainsi à un système d'exploitation indépendant du revenu mais lié au capital forestier

Experimental evaluation of the impact of maternal consumption of aqueous leaf extract of Hybanthus enneaspermus on pregnancy in Sprague dawley rats

The impact of aqueous leaf extract of Hybanthus enneaspermus (HEaq) on pregnancy factors and litter survival was investigated in Sprague Dawley (SD) rat. Control group received distilled water while the test group received 2g/kg body weight of HEaq orally. Blood samples were collected on days one and twenty of pregnancy for total blood count, serumthyroid hormone, thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) and thyrotropin releasing hormone (TRH) assay. Half the number of rats in each group was sacrificed on day nineteen of pregnancy and the placenta and foetus were removed and weighed. The second half carried their pregnancy to term. Number and weights of litter were recorded at birth and the litter were alsosubjected to righting reflex test. Post-natal survival rate was determined for each group while effect of HEaq was also examined in-vivo on the activities of pregnant myometrial muscle. HEaq significantly decreased (p<0.05) foetal weight, placenta weight, foetal growth and survival, number and weights of litter at birth, maternal serum triiodotyroxine T3 and TSHlevel. Mean corpuscular haemoglobin, white blood cell count, platelet count and lipid profile were significantly increased (P<0.05). HEaq increased the frequency and percentage contraction of gravid myometrial muscle in a dose dependent manner. Maternal consumption of aqueous leaf extract of Hybanthus enneaspermus adversely affected pregnancy and development of the foetus, as it precipitated resorption of developing foetus and reduced size and weight of litter at term

Surgical Indications for Eye Removal in Enugu, South Eastern Nigeria

Objective: To determine the surgical indications for removal of the eye in Enugu in south eastern Nigeria. Method: Retrospective case series review. Results: At the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital Enugu, between 1st January 1994 and 31st December 2003, 106 eyes of 106 patients, comprising 71 (67.0%) males and 35 (33.0%) females, aged 6-72 years (mean 31.8), were removed by evisceration (59; 55.7%), enucleation (35; 33.0%), and exenteration (12; 11.3%). Severe open globe injury (49; 46.2%), infection (29; 27.4%), malignant tumour (15; 14.2%) and blind painful eye (14; 13.2%) were the indications for eye removal. Eye removal was more frequent in males (67.0%), among farmers (21.7%), and among the 21-40 year age group (41.5%). Patients who had their eyes removed constituted 0.42% of new outpatients, 4.63% of inpatients and 7.83% of patients who had eye operations during the study period. Conclusion: The indications for eye removal were mainly for preventable/curable causes. There is, therefore, a need to improve promotive, preventive and curative eye care delivery to reverse this trend. Keywords:eye, removal, indications, Enugu, NigeriaNigerian Journal of Opthalmology Vol. 15 (2) 2007: pp. 44-4

Composition chimique d’un extrait aqueux de bridelia ferruginea benth. (euphorbiaceae) et études de ses effets toxicologique et pharmacologique chez les mammifères.

La caractérisation des constituants chimiques de l’extrait aqueux de Bridelia ferruginea (SEA) a révélé la présence de quinones, de tanins catéchiques et galliques, d’alcaloïdes, de stérols, de polyterpènes, de polyphénols, de composés réducteurs, de flavonoïdes et de saponosides.L’étude de la toxicité aiguë de SEA, réalisée sur des souris, a montré que l’extrait aqueux de Bridelia ferruginea administré par voie orale est modérément toxique (DL50 égale à 3568,88 ± 308,45 mg/kg PC). En revanche, la même substance est très toxique (DL50 égale à 111,38 ± 29,3 mg/kg PC) lorsqu’elle est administrée par voie intrapéritonéale. Pour des doses comprises entre 5.10-3 g/kg de PC et 4.10-2 g/kg de PC, SEA provoque une hypotension dose-dépendante chez le lapin. Cette hypotension étant inhibée par l’atropine, l’extrait aqueux de Bridelia ferruginea contiendrait probablement des substances cholinomimétiques de type muscarinique.Mots-clés : Bridelia ferruginea, toxicologie, phytochimie, pharmacologie

Transference of Transport Anisotropy to Composite Fermions

When interacting two-dimensional electrons are placed in a large perpendicular magnetic field, to minimize their energy, they capture an even number of flux quanta and create new particles called composite fermions (CFs). These complex electron-flux-bound states offer an elegant explanation for the fractional quantum Hall effect. Furthermore, thanks to the flux attachment, the effective field vanishes at a half-filled Landau level and CFs exhibit Fermi-liquid-like properties, similar to their zero-field electron counterparts. However, being solely influenced by interactions, CFs should possess no memory whatever of the electron parameters. Here we address a fundamental question: Does an anisotropy of the electron effective mass and Fermi surface (FS) survive composite fermionization? We measure the resistance of CFs in AlAs quantum wells where electrons occupy an elliptical FS with large eccentricity and anisotropic effective mass. Similar to their electron counterparts, CFs also exhibit anisotropic transport, suggesting an anisotropy of CF effective mass and FS.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

Ultrastructural changes during cryopreservation of plumules and embryos of coconut (Cocos nucifera L.)

This article aims to show the changes occurring during cryopreservation of embryos and plumules of coconut which are responsible of their death or survival. Embryos have been cryopreserved by preculture-dehydration for 24h, 28h, 30h, 34h, 38h and 48h on agar medium containing 600g/L of glucose combined with silica gel. The plumules were cryopreserved by encapsulation dehydration on solid medium containing 0.5 M, 0.75 M and 1M followed by dehydration with 40g of silica gel for different durations before rapid freezing. This study indicates that the damages undergone by seed samples can be divided into three types. The first stage of changes concerned the plasmolysis of cells with small vacuoles, condensation of chromatin, changing in the conformation of the DNA and the nucleus and stopping of mitosis. These types of changes are described in general in the context of a desiccation tolerance. The second degree of the changes was the retraction of the cytoplasm inside the cell, the increase in the periplasmic volume. The third degree of modification concerned the deformation of the walls, the invagination or the lysis of the plasma membrane resulting in the observation of distorted cells and and the bursting of the nucleus. These two types of modifications are irreversible and correspond to an absence of regrowth of the samples. Understanding the damage or changes that occur in cryopreserved cells is an important part of understanding how dehydration and frozen affect the viability of recalcitrant plants cells. These changes are made by dehydration and accentuated by freezing

Influence d’une co-construction de rationnement amélioré sur les performances d’embouche ovine paysanne dans la commune rurale de Korsimoro au Burkina Faso

L’étude vise l’amélioration des performances d’embouche ovine dans la commune rurale de Korsimoro. Quatre vingt douze (92) béliers de 22 femmes et de 24 hommes de cette commune ont été étudiés. L’équipe de recherche a défini quatre (4) formules de ration sur la base d’un seul profil nutritionnel apportant 98 g MAD (matières azotées digestibles) et 0,80 UF/kg MS. Les producteurs ont analysé ces formules et ont porté leur choix sur celle composée de 15% de tourteau de coton, 6% de son de blé, 31% de graines de coton et 48% de gousses de Piliostigma reticulatum. Cette ration a été distribuée à deux lots d’animaux en comparaison avec les pratiques locales : lot1=aliment composé introduit+fourrages locaux et lot2=aliment composé introduit+fourrages locaux+bloc multinutritionnel. Les GMQ des animaux du lot 2 ont été significativement (P< 0,05) plus élevés que ceux des animaux du lot 1. La croissance des animaux soumis sous rationnement amélioré (75 g/j) a été très significativement (P< 0,01) plus élevée que celle enregistrée des pratiques paysannes (environ 46 g/j). Une marge bénéficiaire moyenne de 9 173 F CFA a été dégagée par ovin embouché. Les résultats de l’étude suggèrent la nécessité d’améliorer le dispositif organisationnel des emboucheurs.Mots clés : Embouche ovine, gain moyen quotidien, Burkina Faso, bloc multinutritionnel, plateforme d’innovation