Cervical cancer in women diagnosed at the National Health Laboratory, Sudan: A call for screening

Background: Cancer of the cervix is the second most prevalent cancer of women to date in the Sudan, in a concerted review of the records of the hospital-based cancer registry of the Radiation & Isotope Centre of Khartoum (RICK). However, in spite of a wealth of data, this is the first study to date describing the histopathologic prevalence of cervical cancer in the Sudan.Objectives: To identify the percentage and clinicopathological pattern of cervical cancer cases diagnosed at Histopathology Department, National Health Laboratory (NHL) in Khartoum, Sudan.Material and Methods: This is a cross-sectional, descriptive study  conducted at the NHL. All cases with histopathological diagnosis of cervical neoplasm in the period from 2004-2009 were reviewed. Patients’ clinical data were obtained from clinical records. Exclusion criteria included inadequate clinical information and unavailability of both Hematoxylin and Eosin stained (H&E) sections and formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) blocks. The WHO classification of cancer of the cervix (2003) was used to describe disease type. SPSS data analysis was applied.Results: A total of 287 cases were reviewed and 195 cases were included in the study. The mean of cervical cancer cases diagnosed per year at NHL is 7.9%. The commonest age group affected was patients grouped between 41- 60 years (52%) followed by 61-80 years (26.3%). Histologically, 95.9% of the cases were carcinomas. Squamous cell carcinomas were 90.9%, Adenocarcinomas 4.8%, and other epithelial tumours were 4.3%. Of the Squamous carcinomas, 98.8% were invasive and 1.2% intraepithelial (cervical intraepithelial neoplasia). The majority of case presentations were that of a protruding cervical mass. We noticed the commonest symptom being bleeding per vagina.Conclusion: To determine the incidence of cervical cancer in the Sudan a national populationbased registry is necessary. The mean age of patients presenting with cervical cancer to NHL is 53.25 years. This is in keeping with the natural history of the human papilloma virus (HPV). The late presentation of patients with aggressive disease necessitates health  education and cervical cancer screening as well as strict guidelines for medical record keeping in line with good medical practices, enabling good data collection for the newly established population-based cancer registry.Keywords: HPV, invasive squamous cell carcinoma

An international, multicentre survey of β-lactam antibiotic therapeutic drug monitoring practice in intensive care units

Objectives Emerging evidence supports the use of therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) of β-lactams for intensive care unit (ICU) patients to optimize drug exposure, although limited detail is available on how sites run this service in practice. This multicentre survey study was performed to describe the various approaches used for β-lactam TDM in ICUs. Methods A questionnaire survey was developed to describe various aspects relating to the conduct of β-lactam TDM in an ICU setting. Data sought included: β-lactams chosen for TDM, inclusion criteria for selecting patients, blood sampling strategy, analytical methods, pharmacokinetic (PK)/pharmacodynamic (PD) targets and dose adjustment strategies. Results Nine ICUs were included in this survey. Respondents were either ICU or infectious disease physicians, pharmacists or clinical pharmacologists. Piperacillin (co-formulated with tazobactam) and meropenem (100% of units surveyed) were the β-lactams most commonly subject to TDM, followed by ceftazidime (78%), ceftriaxone (43%) and cefazolin (43%). Different chromatographic and microbiological methods were used for assay of β-lactam concentrations in blood and other biological fluids (e.g. CSF). There was significant variation in the PK/PD targets (100% fT>MIC up to 100% fT>4×MIC) and dose adjustment strategies used by each of the sites. Conclusions Large variations were found in the type of β-lactams tested, the patients selected for TDM and drug assay methods. Significant variation observed in the PK/PD targets and dose adjustment strategies used supports the need for further studies that robustly define PK/PD targets for ICU patients to ensure a greater consistency of practice for dose adjustment strategies for optimizing β-lactam dosing with TD

Improvement of a pesticide immunosensor performance using site-directed antibody immobilisation and carbon nanotubes

The potential toxicity of pesticide residues in drinking water has meant a rigid regulation for the appearance of these pollutants. Thus, in this work, we developed a new immunosensor for atrazine detection. We focused on the optimisation of the antibody immobilisation method on sensor surface for the enhancement of the biosensor sensitivity. First, with site-directed immobilisation of rabbit anti-atrazine antibodies using goat anti-rabbit immunoglobulin, a detection limit of 0.5 ng/mL was obtained. This value is 20 times lower than the detection limit obtained with non-oriented antibodies. The second way to improve immunosensor sensitivity consisted of the addition of carbon nanotubes (CNT). As result of using these CNT, detection limit has been improved again from 0.5 ng/mL to 100 pg/mL.This work was financially supported by the PCI cooperation project between Spain and Tunisia.Marrakchi, M.; Helali, S.; Soto Camino, J.; González Martínez, MÁ.; Abdelghani, A.; Hamdi, M. (2013). Improvement of a pesticide immunosensor performance using site-directed antibody immobilisation and carbon nanotubes. International Journal of Nanotechnology. 10:496-507. doi:10.1504/IJNT.2013.053519S4965071

Epidemiological Study on Rift Valley Fever Virus among Domestic Animals in Taiz Governorate (Yemen)

Rift Valley Fever Virus (RVFV) is the causative agent of Rift Valley Fever (RVF), transmitted either by hematophagous insects that infect animals and humans or by direct contact with infected animals. This study was performed to preparing RVF antigen from liver of infected lamb to be used in detecting anti-RVFV antibodies by using Enzyme Linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and to study epidemiological prevalence of anti-RVFV IgM and IgG antibodies among animals which conducted in the Researches Center of Taiz University and Central Health Laboratory, Taiz Governorate, Southwestern Yemen. RVFV antigen was successfully prepared at a titer dilution of 1: 3200 by Chessboard (CB) ELISA assay. However, out of 188 samples, 147 samples were positive for ELISA assay, of which 12 (8.2 %) were positive for anti-RVFV IgM and 135 (91.8 %) for anti-IgG antibodies. The antigen was successfully produced, and successfully adhered to ELISA plates. Simple and inexpensive methods give good results. The results can be used to develop and refine predictive database for RVF transmission based on environmental and remote sensing data

Mutual Relationships: Saudi Universities and The Private Sector for Economic Development

The purpose of this research is to determine the level of the mutual relationship between Saudi universities and the private sector to achieve Economic development in light of the Kingdoms 2030 vision. The researcher relied heavily on the questionnaire as the primary instrument for data collection for the study, employing a descriptive research design and a quantitative methodology in order to accomplish the goals of the study. The investigation was carried out with a sample size of 180 universities leaders in the southern region of Saudi Arabia, all of them were chosen at random. The findings of this study indicated that leaders had high expectations for a mutual relationship between Saudi universities and the private sector. In addition, the findings demonstrated that there are no statistically significant variations in the mutual relationship between Saudi universities and the private sector with regard to the variables of academic rank, and years of experience

Additively Manufactured RCS for Small Satellites and Landers

After a fifty year absence, NASA’s return to the lunar surface under the Artemis Program – for long term human exploration and utilization – is driving commercial and academic opportunities for small satellite and small lander platforms (e.g., Commercial Lunar Payload Services program – CLPS). Bipropellant thrusters are a reliable, low risk, and flight proven method for the propulsion and attitude control that is required for complex maneuvers such entry, descent, and landing (EDL) or in-space proximity operations. However, due to the increasingly competitive commercial spaceflight market in the last decade, satellite subsystems must also be affordable to buy their way into the final mission design and engineering solution. Therefore starting in 2019, and based off prior satellite integration work, Aerojet Rocketdyne (AR) undertook an advanced propulsion development effort to combine modern metal additive manufacturing (AM) techniques with thrust scalable hypergolic MON-25 propulsion technology to create a high performance and fully integrated (i.e., multiple thrusters integrated into a single package) reaction control system (RCS) at a fraction of the production cost when compared to the heritage designs that are assembled from individual thrusters. The point-of-departure for the RCS design comes from a new line of additively manufactured thrusters that stably burn volatile MON-25 oxidizer with monomethylhydrazine (MMH) fuel at thrust levels of 5 lbf and 100 lbf. Cost at the subsystem level is lowered by the AM integration of parts and functions which reduces the build of materials, touch labor, and assembly time. In addition, AM allows the design to be adaptable to changing requirements such as the number of thrusters, orientation, and thrust level. Cost at the satellite level is reduced by leveraging MON-25’s lower freezing point of -55 °C (compared to traditional dinitrogen tetroxide oxidizer) to minimize mass, thermal, and power requirements while operating in deep-space environments. In addition, thruster operation at the equal volume mixture ratio for MMH/MON-25 allows for a modular approach to tank design and a predictable center of gravity during maneuvering. This paper provides an overview of the ISE-5 and the ISE-100 MON-25 thruster technology that powers the integrated designs as well as the development progress of the AM RCS concept itself. This includes reduction to practice activities such as proof-of-concept AM material test demonstrators and water flow test units

Intrapartum GBS screening and antibiotic prophylaxis: a European consensus conference

Group B streptococcus (GBS) remains worldwide a leading cause of severe neonatal disease. Since the end of the 1990s, various strategies for prevention of the early onset neonatal disease have been implemented and have evolved. When a universal antenatal GBS screening-based strategy is used to identify women who are given an intrapartum antimicrobial prophylaxis, a substantial reduction of incidence up to 80% has been reported in the USA as in other countries including European countries. However recommendations are still a matter of debate due to challenges and controversies on how best to identify candidates for prophylaxis and to drawbacks of intrapartum administration of antibiotics. In Europe, some countries recommend either antenatal GBS screening or risk-based strategies, or any combination, and others do not have national or any other kind of guidelines for prevention of GBS perinatal disease. Furthermore, accurate population-based data of incidence of GBS neonatal disease are not available in some countries and hamper good effectiveness evaluation of prevention strategies. To facilitate a consensus towards European guidelines for the management of pregnant women in labor and during pregnancy for the prevention of GBS perinatal disease, a conference was organized in 2013 with a group of experts in neonatology, gynecology- obstetrics and clinical microbiology coming from European representative countries. The group reviewed available data, identified areas where results were suboptimal, where revised procedures and new technologies could improve current practices for prevention of perinatal GBS disease. The key decision issued after the conference is to recommend intrapartum antimicrobial prophylaxis based on a universal intrapartum GBS screening strategy using a rapid real time testing