Perception and attitude towards work related ill-health and use of dust mask among crushers of selected quarry (crushed stone) industry in Ebonyi State: effect of health education

Background: Quarry industry has become a major means of livelihood in Ebonyi state, but insufficient data exists on their operations and use of control measures like dust mask, with no serious attempt at comprehensive health education. The study sought to assess the effect of health education on the perception and attitude towards work related ill-health, and use of dust mask among crushers of selected quarry industry.Methodology: The study was conducted in the crush stone sites in Abakaliki and environs as the study group, while sites in Ishiagu, Ikenyi and Iyioge Ukwagba were the control group. Study population was 104 crushers, dust mask was provided at all sites, but health education (didactic lectures, demonstrations and interactive sections) for 8weeks was for the study group. Post-intervention evaluations were done at 3 and 6 months. Data was obtained using interviewer administered semi structured questionnaires, tally sheets and bimonthly forms, and analysed using SPSS (16.0) and Mathcad 7.Result: Health education was followed with: significant improvement in the proportion with good perception of work-related ill-health (P<0.00003) in the study group, but not in the control (P<0.639); more significant improvement in the proportion with good perception of dust mask in the study (P<0.00003) than control (P<0.004) group; lesser improvements in attitudes and significant improvement in the proportion that always wore dust mask, 6% to 24% (P<0.003) in the study group.Conclusion: Sustained periodic health education by government and private sectors is necessary, with training on dust mask usage, greater availability and provision of water-cooled caps.Keywords: Quarry Crushers, Ill-health, Dust Mask, Health Education, Ebony

The effect of aging-associated impaired mitochondrial status on kainate-evoked hippocampal gamma oscillations.

Oscillations in hippocampal neuronal networks in the gamma frequency band have been implicated in various cognitive tasks and we showed previously that aging reduces the power of such oscillations. Here, using submerged hippocampal slices allowing simultaneous electrophysiological recordings and imaging, we studied the correlation between the kainate-evoked gamma oscillation and mitochondrial activity, as monitored by rhodamine 123. We show that the initiation of kainate-evoked gamma oscillations induces mitochondrial depolarization, indicating a metabolic response. Aging had an opposite effect on these parameters: while depressing the gamma oscillation strength, it increases mitochondrial depolarization. Also, in the aged neurons, kainate induced significantly larger Ca(2+) signals. In younger slices, acute mitochondrial depolarization induced by low concentrations of mitochondrial protonophores strongly, but reversibly, inhibits gamma oscillations. These data indicating that the complex network activity required by the maintenance of gamma activity is susceptible to changes and modulations in mitochondrial status

Rifampicin-manuka honey combinations are superior to other antibiotic-manuka honey combinations in eradicating Staphylococcus aureus biofilms

© 2018 Liu, Cokcetin, Lu, Turnbull, Carter, Whitchurch and Harry. Chronic wound infections are a major burden to both society and the health care industry. Bacterial biofilms are the major cause of chronic wound infections and are notoriously recalcitrant to treatments with antibiotics, making them difficult to eradicate. Thus, new approaches are required to combat biofilms in chronic wounds. One possible approach is to use drug combination therapies. Manuka honey has potent broad-spectrum antibacterial activity and has previously shown synergistic activity in combination with antibiotics against common wound pathogens, including Staphylococcus aureus. In addition, manuka honey exhibits anti-biofilm activity, thereby warranting the investigation of its potential as a combination therapy with antibiotics for the topical treatment of biofilm-related infections. Here we report the first use of MacSynergy II to investigate the response of established S. aureus (strain NCTC 8325) biofilms to treatment by combinations of Medihoney (medical grade manuka honey) and conventional antibiotics that are used for preventing or treating infections: rifampicin, oxacillin, fusidic acid, clindamycin, and gentamicin. Using checkerboard microdilution assays, viability assays and MacSynergy II analysis we show that the Medihoney-rifampicin combination was more effective than combinations using the other antibiotics against established staphylococcal biofilms. Medihoney and rifampicin were strongly synergistic in their ability to reduce both biofilm biomass and the viability of embedded S. aureus cells at a level that is likely to be significant in vivo. Other combinations of Medihoney and antibiotic produced an interesting array of effects: Medihoney-fusidic acid treatment showed minor synergistic activity, and Medihoney-clindamycin, -gentamicin, and -oxacillin combinations showed overall antagonistic effects when the honey was used at sub-inhibitory concentration, due to enhanced biofilm formation at these concentrations which could not be counteracted by the antibiotics. However, these combinations were not antagonistic when honey was used at the inhibitory concentration. Confocal scanning laser microscopy confirmed that different honey-antibiotic combination treatments could eradicate biofilms. Our results suggest that honey has potential as an adjunct treatment with rifampicin for chronic wounds infected with staphylococcal biofilms. We also show that MacSynergy II allows a comprehensive examination of the synergistic effects of honey-antibiotic combinations, and can help to identify doses for clinical use

Honey can inhibit and eliminate biofilms produced by Pseudomonas aeruginosa

© 2019, The Author(s). Chronic wound treatment is becoming increasingly difficult and costly, further exacerbated when wounds become infected. Bacterial biofilms cause most chronic wound infections and are notoriously resistant to antibiotic treatments. The need for new approaches to combat polymicrobial biofilms in chronic wounds combined with the growing antimicrobial resistance crisis means that honey is being revisited as a treatment option due to its broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity and low propensity for bacterial resistance. We assessed four well-characterised New Zealand honeys, quantified for their key antibacterial components, methylglyoxal, hydrogen peroxide and sugar, for their capacity to prevent and eradicate biofilms produced by the common wound pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa. We demonstrate that: (1) honey used at substantially lower concentrations compared to those found in honey-based wound dressings inhibited P. aeruginosa biofilm formation and significantly reduced established biofilms; (2) the anti-biofilm effect of honey was largely driven by its sugar component; (3) cells recovered from biofilms treated with sub-inhibitory honey concentrations had slightly increased tolerance to honey; and (4) honey used at clinically obtainable concentrations completely eradicated established P. aeruginosa biofilms. These results, together with their broad antimicrobial spectrum, demonstrate that manuka honey-based wound dressings are a promising treatment for infected chronic wounds, including those with P. aeruginosa biofilms

Antibiotic-specific differences in the response of Staphylococcus aureus to treatment with antimicrobiala combined with manuka honey

Skin infections caused by antibiotic resistant Staphylococcus aureus are a significant health problem worldwide; often associated with high treatment cost and mortality rate. Complex natural products like New Zealand (NZ) manuka honey have been revisited and studied extensively as an alternative to antibiotics due to their potent broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity, and the inability to isolate honey-resistant S. aureus. Previous studies showing synergistic effects between manuka-type honeys and antibiotics have been demonstrated against the growth of one methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) strain. We have previously demonstrated strong synergistic activity between NZ manuka-type honey and rifampicin against growth and biofilm formation of multiple S. arueus strains. Here, we have expanded our investigation using multiple S. aureus strains and four different antibiotics commonly used to treat S. aureus-related skin infections: rifampicin, oxacillin, gentamicin, and clindamycin. Using checkerboard microdilution and agar diffusion assays with S. aureus strains including clinical isolates and MRSA we demonstrate that manuka-type honey combined with these four antibiotics frequently produces a synergistic effect. In some cases when synergism was not observed, there was a significant enhancement in antibiotic susceptibility. Some strains that were highly resistant to an antibiotic when present alone become sensitive to clinically achievable concentrations when combined with honey. However, not all of the S. aureus strains tested responded in the same way to these combinational treatments. Our findings support the use of NZ manuka-type honeys in clinical treatment against S. aureus-related infections and extend their potential use as an antibiotic adjuvant in combinational therapy. Our data also suggest that manuka-type honeys may not work as antibiotic adjuvants for all strains of S. aureus, and this may help determine the mechanistic processes behind honey synergy

The Effect of New Zealand Kanuka, Manuka and Clover Honeys on Bacterial Growth Dynamics and Cellular Morphology Varies According to the Species

Treatment of chronic wounds is becoming increasingly difficult due to antibiotic resistance. Complex natural products with antimicrobial activity, such as honey, are now under the spotlight as alternative treatments to antibiotics. Several studies have shown honey to have broad-spectrum antibacterial activity at concentrations present in honey dressings, and resistance to honey has not been attainable in the laboratory. However not all honeys are the same and few studies have used honey that is well defined both in geographic and chemical terms. Here we have used a range of concentrations of clover honey and a suite of manuka and kanuka honeys from known geographical locations, and for which the floral source and concentration of methylglyoxal and hydrogen peroxide potential were defined, to determine their effect on growth and cellular morphology of four bacteria: Bacillus subtilis, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. While the general trend in effectiveness of growth inhibition was manuka>manuka-kanuka blend>kanuka>clover, the honeys had varying and diverse effects on the growth and cellular morphology of each bacterium, and each organism had a unique response profile to these honeys. P. aeruginosa showed a markedly different pattern of growth inhibition to the other three organisms when treated with sub-inhibitory concentrations of honey, being equally sensitive to all honeys, including clover, and the least sensitive to honey overall. While hydrogen peroxide potential contributed to the antibacterial activity of the manuka and kanuka honeys, it was never essential for complete growth inhibition. Cell morphology analysis also showed a varied and diverse set of responses to the honeys that included cell length changes, cell lysis, and alterations to DNA appearance. These changes are likely to reflect the different regulatory circuits of the organisms that are activated by the stress of honey treatment. © 2013 Lu et al

Constraining General Two Higgs Doublet Models by the Evolution of Yukawa Couplings

We study how general two Higgs doublet models can be constrained by considering their properties under renormalization group evolution of the Yukawa couplings. We take into account both the appearance of a Landau pole as well as off-diagonal Yukawa couplings leading to flavour changing neutral currents in violation with experimental constraints at the electroweak scale. We find that the latter condition can be used to limit the amount of Z2 symmetry breaking allowed in a given model.Comment: 28 pages, 10 figures, added discussion of evolution from high to low scales, to be published in JHE

A role for core planar polarity proteins in cell contact-mediated orientation of planar cell division across the mammalian embryonic skin

Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. © The Author(s) 2017. Supplementary information accompanies this paper at doi:10.1038/s41598-017-01971-2.The question of how cell division orientation is determined is fundamentally important for understanding tissue and organ shape in both healthy or disease conditions. Here we provide evidence for cell contact-dependent orientation of planar cell division in the mammalian embryonic skin. We propose a model where the core planar polarity proteins Celsr1 and Frizzled-6 (Fz6) communicate the long axis orientation of interphase basal cells to neighbouring basal mitoses so that they align their horizontal division plane along the same axis. The underlying mechanism requires a direct, cell surface, planar polarised cue, which we posit depends upon variant post-translational forms of Celsr1 protein coupled to Fz6. Our hypothesis has parallels with contact-mediated division orientation in early C. elegans embryos suggesting functional conservation between the adhesion-GPCRs Celsr1 and Latrophilin-1. We propose that linking planar cell division plane with interphase neighbour long axis geometry reinforces axial bias in skin spreading around the mouse embryo body.Peer reviewe

Traumatic brain injury: Patient experience and satisfaction with discharge from trauma hospital

Objectives: To describe the discharge process for patients with traumatic brain injury from a trauma hospital, and patient experience and satisfaction with care transition. Furthermore, to evaluate associations between discharge process and patient satisfaction and quality of care transition.Design: Prospective-retrospective observational study.Subjects/patients: Seventy-four patients admitted to ward or intensive care unit at a trauma referral hospital within 24 h of traumatic brain injury.Methods: Baseline characteristics and discharge process variables were extracted from medical records. Patients were interviewed 6-months post-injury about their experience and satisfaction with care transition, using a visual analogue scale (VAS) and the Care Transition Measurement (CTM-3 (R)) as outcome measures. Regression analyses were performed to investigate associations between discharge process and outcome.Results: One-third of patients were not involved in the discharge process, and information in discharge summaries was often inadequate. Patients' involvement in care transition and co-ordination of care were significantly associated with overall satisfaction (VAS, p = 0.002 and p = 0.001, respectively) and quality of care transition (CTM-3 (R), p =0.003 and p = 0.007, respectively). Patients with more severe injuries reported lower satisfaction and quality of care transition.Conclusion: Patient's involvement in healthcare decision-making and co-ordination of care is important for self-reported satisfaction with transition and quality of care transition

Alterations in vascular function in primary aldosteronism - a cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging study

Introduction: Excess aldosterone is associated with increased cardiovascular risk. Aldosterone has a permissive effect on vascular fibrosis. Cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) allows study of vascular function by measuring aortic distensibility. We compared aortic distensibility in primary aldosteronism (PA), essential hypertension (EH) and normal controls and explored the relationship between aortic distensibility and pulse wave velocity (PWV).<p></p> Methods: We studied PA (n=14) and EH (n=33) subjects and age-matched healthy controls (n=17) with CMR, including measurement of aortic distensibility, and measured PWV using applanation tonometry. At recruitment, PA and EH patients had similar blood pressure and left ventricular mass.<p></p> Results: Subjects with PA had significantly lower aortic distensibilty and higher PWV compared to EH and healthy controls. These changes were independent of other factors associated with reduced aortic distensibility, including aging. There was a significant relationship between increasing aortic stiffness and age in keeping with physical and vascular aging. As expected, aortic distensibility and PWV were closely correlated.<p></p> Conclusion: These results demonstrate that PA patients display increased arterial stiffness compared to EH, independent of vascular aging. The implication is that aldosterone invokes functional impairment of arterial function. The long-term implications of arterial stiffening in aldosterone excess require further study.<p></p&gt