Testing devices for the prevention and treatment of stroke and its complications

We are entering a challenging but exciting period when many new interventions may appear for stroke based on the use of devices. Hopefully these will lead to improved outcomes at a cost that can be afforded in most parts of the world. Nevertheless, it is vital that lessons are learnt from failures in the development of pharmacological interventions (and from some early device studies), including inadequate preclinical testing, suboptimal trial design and analysis, and underpowered studies. The device industry is far more disparate than that seen for pharmaceuticals; companies are very variable in size and experience in stroke, and are developing interventions across a wide range of stroke treatment and prevention. It is vital that companies work together where sales and marketing are not involved, including in understanding basic stroke mechanisms, prospective systematic reviews, and education of physicians. Where possible, industry and academics should also work closely together to ensure trials are designed to be relevant to patient care and outcomes. Additionally, regulation of the device industry lags behind that for pharmaceuticals, and it is critical that new interventions are shown to be safe and effective rather than just feasible. Phase IV postmarketing surveillance studies will also be needed to ensure that devices are safe when used in the ‘real-world’ and to pick up uncommon adverse events

Correlates of Fertility Intentions Among HIV/AIDS Patients in Northern Nigeria

Little research has been conducted regarding the reproductive intentions of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) in northern Nigeria. We studied reproductive desires and their predictors among340 PLWHA receiving care at Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital. Of all respondents, 60(70.6%) of males and 177(69.4%) of females were sexually active. Only 65(19.4%) of them used condoms. One hundredand sixty seven females (65.5%) and 52(61.2%) males expressed a desire to have more children. Out of these, 16(7.3%), 106(48.4%) and 88(40.2%) wanted to have one, two and three or more childrenrespectively. Significant predictors of higher fertility desires were; religion (OR=1.8), duration of diagnosis (OR=0.42), low parity (OR=6.03) and awareness of partner’s serostatus (OR=2.3). A largeproportion of the HIV-positive individuals in the study were sexually active, desired to have children, and wanted to use family planning, indicating unmet need for reproductive health counseling in generaland family planning in particular (Afr J Reprod Health 2009; 13[3]:71-83)

Changes In Serum Electrolyte Levels In Typhoid Fever Patients Attending Minna General Hospital

Typhoid fever is a systemic infection caused by the bacterium Salmonella enterica, subspecies enterica, serotype Typhi, which is mostly contracted through the ingestion of food or water contaminated by the faeces of an infected person. Serum sodium, potassium, chloride, and bicarbonate levels were determined in sixty patients with established typhoid fever attending General Hospital Minna, using Spectrophotometric method. The case studies included 15 adult-males, 15 adult-females, 15 male-children, and 15 female-children. The mean ± standard deviation of serum Na+, K+, Cl-, and HCO32- in the sixty patients were 116.11 ± 20.65mmol/L; 3.40 ± 0.90mmol/L ; 87.13 ± 16.34mmol/L; and 24.10 ± 5.54 mmol/L respectively. When compared with the controls and the laboratory reported normal values, 50% of the patients were found to be hyponatraemic, 51% were hypochloraemic, 36% were hypokalaemic, while 11% had metabolic acidosis. Results based on sex showed insignificant difference between males and females for all electrolytes determined (p< 0.05). An insignificant difference was also observed between children and adult patients for all parameters determined (p< 0.05). In addition, weak positive correlations were observed between cations and anions determined in this study. The results obtained in this study showed that electrolytes abnormalities existed in patients with established typhoid fever attending General Hospital Minna, Niger state, NigeriaKeywords: Typhoid fever, Salmonella enterica, serotype typhi, hyponatraemia, hypochloraemia, hypokalaemia, metabolic acidosi