Nurses’ knowledge regarding nursing care and management of hypertensive patients in a selected hospital in Dhaka city

Background: Heart diseases, hypertension, diabetes, COPD and cancer are some of the major NCDs and account for more than three-fifths of a death in Bangladesh. This study was aimed to assess the level of nurses’ knowledge regarding nursing care and management of the hypertensive patients.Methods: This study utilized a descriptive cross-sectional study type and the data were collected using self-administered questionnaire. The respondents were informed about the purpose of the study to obtain their consent and they were given clear instructions on how to fill the questionnaires. All the data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22.Results: In this study slightly above 60.0% of the participants were female and 73% of them were Muslims. More than half (53.0%) of the respondents had B.Sc. in nursing and 51.3% of them had <10 years of service experience. About 70.4% of the respondents had attended a training on hypertension and 92.2% of them knows about normal blood pressure measurement. About 92.2% of the participants knows the causes of hypertension and 82.6% of the respondents mentioned that hypertension management aims to prevent morbidity and mortality and only 39.1% of them knows the recommended diet for people with hypertension.Conclusions: The finding reported that the nurses' knowledge regarding the management of hypertensive patients and knowledge on hypertension were very good. Developing knowledge among the nurses in relation to hypertension is the key factor to plan for comprehensive nursing care for better prognosis of the patient

Assessment of knowledge and practice of menstrual hygiene among the female nursing students in a selected private nursing college in Dhaka City

Background: Adolescent females are often uninformed and inexperienced on most health-related issues including menstruation. The problems of menstrual hygiene are inadequately acknowledged and has not received any proper attention as well. This study was aimed to assess the level of knowledge and practice of menstrual hygiene among the female nursing students in Bangladesh.Methods: A total of 106 female nursing students were selected from Grameen Caledonian College of nursing using purposive sampling technique.  A descriptive cross-sectional type of study was used. Data were collected directly using self-administered semi-structured questionnaire developed and was analysed using SPSS version 22.0.Results: In this study more than six-tenths (63.2%) of the respondents were 20 years and below and most of them (74.5%) were unmarried.  About 60.4% of them were currently running diploma in nursing and the rest (38.6%) were B.Sc. nursing students. About 72.6% of the respondent’s mothers had above HSC level of education and most of them (61.3%) were from nuclear family.  Little above half (51.9%) of the respondents mentioned that menstruation is the uterine bleeding and the majority (67.0%) of the respondents were surprised during their first menstruation. Most of the respondents source of information about menstruation before menarche was sister (95.3%), followed by friend (92.5%), mother (67.9%) and the rest mentioned the teacher (62.3%). About 76.5% of the respondents mentioned that their mode of disposal of absorbents was dustbin and most of them (68.9%) used water and soap to clean their genital area after menstruation.Conclusions: The study was concluded that more than half of the respondents had moderate level of knowledge and practice regarding the menstrual hygiene. Most of the (67.0%) of the respondents were surprised during their first menstruation and close to eight-tenths (79.2%) mentioned they had a regular usual menstrual cycle. There is need for more awareness regarding the information on good menstrual hygiene practices

Mechanisms Underlying Hepatitis C Virus-Associated Hepatic Fibrosis

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection often causes liver diseases, including fibrosis, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Liver fibrosis is the outcome of the wound healing response to tissue damage caused by chronic HCV infection. This process is characterized by the excessive accumulation of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins, such as collagen fibers secreted by activated hepatic stellate cells (HSCs). Activation of HSCs from the quiescent stage is mediated by different mechanisms, including pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines released from HCV-infected hepatocytes and liver macrophages. HCV infection modulates the expression of different microRNAs that can be transported and delivered to the HSCs via exosomes released from infected cells, also leading to the development of advanced disease pathogenesis. Although recent advancements in direct-acting antiviral (DAA) treatment can efficiently control viremia, there are very few treatment strategies available that can be effective at preventing pathogenesis in advanced liver fibrosis or cirrhosis in patients. Assessment of fibrosis is considered to be the major part of proper patient care and decision making in clinical practice. In this review, we highlighted the current knowledge of molecular mechanisms responsible for the progression of liver fibrosis in chronically HCV-infected patients, and currently available methods for evaluation of fibrosis in patients. A detailed understanding of these aspects at the molecular level may contribute to the development of new therapies targeting HCV-related liver fibrosis

Exosomes from COVID-19 Patients Carry Tenascin-C and Fibrinogen-β in Triggering Inflammatory Signals in Cells of Distant Organ

SARS-CoV-2 infection can cause cytokine storm and may overshoot immunity in humans; however, it remains to be determined whether virus-induced soluble mediators from infected cells are carried by exosomes as vehicles to distant organs and cause tissue damage in COVID-19 patients. We took an unbiased proteomic approach for analyses of exosomes isolated from plasma of healthy volunteers and COVID-19 patients. Our results revealed that tenascin-C (TNC) and fibrinogen-β (FGB) are highly abundant in exosomes from COVID-19 patients’ plasma compared with that of healthy normal controls. Since TNC and FGB stimulate pro-inflammatory cytokines via the Nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) pathway, we examined the status of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and C–C motif chemokine ligand 5 (CCL5) expression upon exposure of hepatocytes to exosomes from COVID-19 patients and observed significant increase compared with that from healthy subjects. Together, our results demonstrate that TNC and FGB are transported through plasma exosomes and potentially trigger pro-inflammatory cytokine signaling in cells of distant organ