Antibiogram of pharyngeal isolates of children with pharyngotonsillitis in a specialist hospital in Gusau, North-Western Nigeria

Pharyngotonsillitis is one of the common childhood infections caused by bacteria in 30 to 40% of cases. Bacterial causes are important due to the non suppurative sequalae caused by Streptococcus pyogenes and also associated complications. These microorganisms undergo constant changes and antibiotic resistance have been reported. Objective: To document organisms isolated from throat swab microscopy and culture with their antibiotic susceptibility pattern in children diagnosed with pharyngotonsillitis. Methodology: This was a retrospective analysis of throat swabs microscopy, culture and sensitivity results of children aged 0-13 years with a diagnosis of pharyngotonsillitis over a four-year period. Results: Of the 144 results reviewed; 120 samples yielded 122 isolates, giving a culture positive yield of 83.3%. Males were 81 (56.2%) with a M:F ratio of 1.3:1. Majority of the children were under fives (58.3%). Gram positive organisms were 118 (96.7%), with Streptococcus pyogenes being the commonest organism isolated (79.5%), followed by Staphylococcus aureus (13.9%). Gentamicin (85.0%), Ofloxacin (64.2%) and Augmentin (51.7%) had the highest susceptibility rate, while the least was seen with Cefixime, Tetracycline, Levofloxacin and Netillin. Streptococcus pyogenes and Staphylococcus aureuswere susceptible to Gentamicin and Ofloxacin, while all the Streptococcus pneumoniae were susceptible to Gentamicin. Multi drug resistance was seen with Providencia spp and Serratia marcescens. Conclusion: Streptococcus pyogenes was the commonest organism and Gentamicin, Ofloxacin and Augmentin were the antibiotics with the highest susceptibility. Gram negative organisms display high rate of multidrug resistance. Gentamicin could be considered as an option or an adjunct in the treatment of pharyngotonsilliti

The pattern of infection and in vivo response to Chloroquine by uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria in northwestern Nigeria

The pattern of infection and in vivo response of uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria to Chloroquine as first line drug and Quinine, Halofantrine or Sulfadoxine-Pyrimethamine as second line medications was evaluated at nested sentinel points, including Government and Private Practices, for three consecutive months. 559 cases were evaluated of which 22.5% failed on Chloroquine therapy. The age range of P. falciparum malaria cases was 4 months to 48 years, with a mean and median age of 9.2 and 3 years, respectively. There were significantly more female patients than male. Also, ages 5 years and below accounted for 63.2% of cases and as a group had an increased risk of treatment failure with Chloroquine compared to older patients. In general, male patients also had a higher relative risk of treatment failure on Chloroquine. Patients treated in Government practices were more likely to fail than those treated in Private practices. All cases of failure to Chloroquine treatment responded to Quinine, Halofantrine or Sulfadoxine-Pyrimethamine. Key Words: Plasmodium falciparum malaria, Chloroquine, resistance. African Journal of Biotechnology Vol.4(1) 2005: 79-8

Hepatitis b, c and hiv serological markers in children with sickle cell anaemia in a tertiary hospital, Gusau, North-Western Nigeria

Sickle Cell Anaemia patients are considered to be among the high-risk groups for hepatitis B and C viral infections. These viruses and HIV share common routes of transmission and similar risk factors and their infections coexist. Objective: This study was aimed at determining the seroprevalence of hepatitis B, C and HIV viral markers of infections in children with SCA. Methodology: A cross sectional Hospital based study conducted on 89 confirmed SCA Children aged 6 months – 13 years in steady state attending Haematology Clinic in a Specialist Hospital Gusau from July 2017 to March 2018. Approval for the study was obtained from the Research and Ethics Committee of the Hospital. The age, gender, history of blood transfusion, traditional scarification, uvulectomy, circumcision and immunization of the subjects were recorded. Serological test was carried out to determine the prevalence of hepatitis B, C and HIV using the viral markers and HIV 1& 2 rapid test kits. Results: Eighty-nine subjects were recruited with 46(51.7%) males and 43(48.3%) females. The mean age was 5.06 ±3.4 years. The seroprevalence of HBsAg, HBsAb, HBcAb, HBeAg, HBeAb, AntiHCV and HIV 1& 2 were 3(3.4%), 3(3.4%), 5(5.7%), 1(1.1%), 6(6.9%) and 0% respectively. No co-infection among the studied subjects. There is no significant difference in the age or gender distribution and seroprevalence of the viruses among SCA children. p = > 0.05 Conclusion: Hepatitis C infection is found to be high as opposed to Hepatitis B which is lower among SCA Children in this community

Interleukin-6 trans signalling enhances photodynamic therapy by modulating cell cycling

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) of solid tumours causes tissue damage that elicits local and systemic inflammation with major involvement of interleukin-6 (IL-6). We have previously reported that PDT-treated cells lose responsiveness to IL-6 cytokines. Therefore, it is unclear whether PDT surviving tumour cells are subject to regulation by IL-6 and whether this regulation could contribute to tumour control by PDT. We demonstrate in epithelial tumour cells that while the action of IL-6 cytokines through their membrane receptors is attenuated, regulation by IL-6 via trans-signalling is established. Soluble interleukin-6 receptor-α (IL-6Rα) (sIL-6Rα) and IL-6 were released by leucocytes in the presence of conditioned medium from PDT-treated tumour cells. Cells that had lost their membrane receptor IL-6Rα due to PDT responded to treatment with the IL-6R–IL-6 complex (Hyper-IL-6) with activation of signal transducers and activator of transcription (STAT3) and ERK. Photodynamic therapy-treated cells, which were maintained during post-PDT recovery in presence of IL-6 or Hyper-IL-6, showed an enhanced suppression of proliferation. Cytokine-dependent inhibition of proliferation correlated with a decrease in cyclin E, CDK2 and Cdc25A, and enhancement of p27kip1 and hypophosphorylated Rb. The IL-6 trans-signalling-mediated attenuation of cell proliferation was also effective in vivo detectable by an improved Colon26 tumour cure by PDT combined with Hyper-IL-6 treatment. Prevention of IL-6 trans-signalling using soluble gp130 reduced curability. The data suggest that the post-PDT tumour milieu contains the necessary components to establish effective IL-6 trans-signalling, thus providing a means for more effective tumour control

Heart Rate as a Predictor of Challenging Behaviours among Children with Autism from Wearable Sensors in Social Robot Interactions

Children with autism face challenges in various skills (e.g., communication and social) and they exhibit challenging behaviours. These challenging behaviours represent a challenge to their families, therapists, and caregivers, especially during therapy sessions. In this study, we have investigated several machine learning techniques and data modalities acquired using wearable sensors from children with autism during their interactions with social robots and toys in their potential to detect challenging behaviours. Each child wore a wearable device that collected data. Video annotations of the sessions were used to identify the occurrence of challenging behaviours. Extracted time features (i.e., mean, standard deviation, min, and max) in conjunction with four machine learning techniques were considered to detect challenging behaviors. The heart rate variability (HRV) changes have also been investigated in this study. The XGBoost algorithm has achieved the best performance (i.e., an accuracy of 99%). Additionally, physiological features outperformed the kinetic ones, with the heart rate being the main contributing feature in the prediction performance. One HRV parameter (i.e., RMSSD) was found to correlate with the occurrence of challenging behaviours. This work highlights the importance of developing the tools and methods to detect challenging behaviors among children with autism during aided sessions with social robots

Temporal trends (1977-2007) and ethnic inequity in child mortality in rural villages of southern Guinea Bissau

Background Guinea Bissau is one of the poorest countries in the world, with one of the highest under-5 mortality rate. Despite its importance for policy planning, data on child mortality are often not available or of poor quality in low-income countries like Guinea Bissau. Our aim in this study was to use the baseline survey to estimate child mortality in rural villages in southern Guinea Bissau for a 30 years period prior to a planned cluster randomised intervention. We aimed to investigate temporal trends with emphasis on historical events and the effect of ethnicity, polygyny and distance to the health centre on child mortality. Methods A baseline survey was conducted prior to a planned cluster randomised intervention to estimate child mortality in 241 rural villages in southern Guinea Bissau between 1977 and 2007. Crude child mortality rates were estimated by Kaplan-Meier method from birth history of 7854 women. Cox regression models were used to investigate the effects of birth periods with emphasis on historical events, ethnicity, polygyny and distance to the health centre on child mortality. Results High levels of child mortality were found at all ages under five with a significant reduction in child mortality over the time periods of birth except for 1997-2001. That period comprises the 1998/99 civil war interval, when child mortality was 1.5% higher than in the previous period. Children of Balanta ethnic group had higher hazard of dying under five years of age than children from other groups until 2001. Between 2002 and 2007, Fula children showed the highest mortality. Increasing walking distance to the nearest health centre increased the hazard, though not substantially, and polygyny had a negligible and statistically not significant effect on the hazard. Conclusion Child mortality is strongly associated with ethnicity and it should be considered in health policy planning. Child mortality, though considerably decreased during the past 30 years, remains high in rural Guinea Bissau. Temporal trends also suggest that civil wars have detrimental effects on child mortality. Trial Registration Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN5243333