Cryptococcosis complicating diabetes mellitus: a scoping review.

BACKGROUND: A better understanding of the epidemiology of cryptococcal infection in HIV-negative individuals is an international research interest. Immune dysfunction in diabetes mellitus (DM) significantly increases the risk of acquiring and reactivation of infection due to Cryptococcus neoformans. Risk factors and outcomes of cryptococcosis in DM are not well documented. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to determine the clinical characteristics and outcomes of cryptococcal infections in persons living with DM. METHODS: MEDLINE (via PubMed), EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library databases were searched in November 2020. The searches covered the period between 1980 and 2020.We included studies that reported confirmed cryptococcosis in patients with DM. Reference lists of included articles were also searched, and additional studies were included if appropriate. No language restriction was applied. Single case reports, case series and original articles were included whereas review articles were excluded. RESULTS: A total of 28 studies (24 single case reports, 4 retrospectives) were included involving 47 unique patients from Asia (17 cases), North America (six cases), South America (three cases) and Africa (two cases). Men constituted 75% (n = 18) of the cases. Median age was 60.5 (range: 27-79) years. The majority of the patients had cryptococcal meningitis (68.1%, n = 32) followed by disseminated cryptococcosis (6.4%, n = 7), and others (isolated cutaneous disease one, peritonitis one, pleural one, thyroid one, adrenal one). Diagnosis was achieved through either culture and microscopy (38/47), cryptococcal antigen tests (9/47) or histopathology (9/47) singly or in a combination. All-cause mortality was 38.3% (n = 18). Among those with meningitis mortality was 36.2%. CONCLUSION: A wide spectrum of cryptococcal infections with varying severity occurs in DM. Mortality remains unacceptably high. There is a need for more studies to characterize better cryptococcal disease in DM

Global health research abstracts: April ‘23

The African Journal of Emergency Medicine, in partnership with several other regional emergency medicine journals, publishes abstracts from each respective journal. Abstracts are not necessarily linked to open access papers however, all abstracts are accessible without subscription

Global Health research abstracts: June ‘23

The African Journal of Emergency Medicine, in partnership with several other regional emergency medicine journals, publishes abstracts from each respective journal. Abstracts are not necessarily linked to open access papers however, all abstracts are accessible without subscription

Global health research abstracts: July ‘23

The African Journal of Emergency Medicine, in partnership with several other regional emergency medicine journals, publishes abstracts from each respective journal. Abstracts are not necessarily linked to open access papers however, all abstracts are accessible without subscription

Global Health research abstracts: May ‘23

The African Journal of Emergency Medicine, in partnership with several other regional emergency medicine journals, publishes abstracts from each respective journal. Abstracts are not necessarily linked to open access papers however, all abstracts are accessible without subscription

Problematic use of the internet, smartphones, and social media among medical students and relationship with depression: An exploratory study.

BackgroundStudents in sub-Saharan African countries experienced online classes for the first time during the COVID-19 pandemic. For some individuals, greater online engagement can lead to online dependency, which can be associated with depression. The present study explored the association between problematic use of the internet, social media, and smartphones with depression symptoms among Ugandan medical students.MethodsA pilot study was conducted among 269 medical students at a Ugandan public university. Using a survey, data were collected regarding socio-demographic factors, lifestyle, online use behaviors, smartphone addiction, social media addiction, and internet addiction. Hierarchical linear regression models were performed to explore the associations of different forms of online addiction with depression symptom severity.ResultsThe findings indicated that 16.73% of the medical students had moderate to severe depression symptoms. The prevalence of being at risk of (i) smartphone addiction was 45.72%, (ii) social media addiction was 74.34%, and (iii) internet addiction use was 8.55%. Online use behaviors (e.g., average hours spent online, types of social media platforms used, the purpose for internet use) and online-related addictions (to smartphones, social media, and the internet) predicted approximately 8% and 10% of the severity of depression symptoms, respectively. However, over the past two weeks, life stressors had the highest predictability for depression (35.9%). The final model predicted a total of 51.9% variance for depression symptoms. In the final model, romantic relationship problems (ß = 2.30, S.E = 0.58; pConclusionDespite life stressors being the largest predictor of depression symptom score severity, problematic online use also contributed significantly. Therefore, it is recommended that medical students' mental health care services consider digital wellbeing and its relationship with problematic online use as part of a more holistic depression prevention and resilience program

Exploring adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) among Ugandan university students: its associations with academic performance, depression, and suicidal ideations

Abstract Background Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) among university students have been linked to a variety of factors and have been shown to have a dose–response relationship with adult health and behavior. Objective To investigate the effect of exposure to ACEs on academic performance, depression, and suicidal ideations among university students. Methods A cross-sectional survey among university students at a public university in southwestern Uganda was conducted in 2021, integrating the Adverse Childhood Experiences International Questionnaire for assessing ACEs, the Patient Health Questionnaire for assessing depression symptoms and suicidal ideations, and questions assessing the family structure and academic performance as adopted from similar studies. Regression analysis was performed, and 3 models were generated to answer the study hypotheses. Results A total of 653 undergraduate university students with a mean age of 22.80 (± 3.16) years were recruited. Almost all students (99.8%) experienced one or more ACEs, with physical abuse being the common ACE reported. The average depression symptom severity was statistically higher among individuals who experienced any form of ACEs. No relationship was observed between the ACEs experienced and self-rated academic performance. Similarly, on regression analysis, the cumulative number of ACEs was not associated with self-rated academic performance (β =  − 0.007; 95% CI − 0.031 to 0.016; p = 0.558). However, the cumulative number of ACEs was positively associated with depression symptom severity (β = 0.684; 95% CI 0.531–0.837; p < 0.001), as well as increased the likelihood of suicidal ideations (aOR = 1.264; 95% CI 01.090–1.465; p < 0.001). Conclusions The burden of ACEs is exceedingly high among Ugandan university students, highlighting the urgency in strengthening effective child protection strategies to protect Uganda’s rapidly growing population from mental ill-health and avoid future psychological disability, a burden to the healthcare system. The study's findings will also be useful to practitioners/policymakers working to prevent/limit child maltreatment globally

Additional file 2 of A survey of the knowledge and practices of nursing students of Mbarara University of Science and Technology around Monitoring Fluid Requirements for burns patients on surgical ward at Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital

Additional file 2. Data set

Additional file 1 of A survey of the knowledge and practices of nursing students of Mbarara University of Science and Technology around Monitoring Fluid Requirements for burns patients on surgical ward at Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital

Additional file 1. Questionnaire

Sexual Risk Survey (SRS) items and converting raw scores to ordinal categories.

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