PREVALENCE AND MANAGEMENT OF FALCIPARIUM MALARIA AMONG INFANTS AND CHILDREN IN OTA, OGUN STATE, SOUTHWESTERN NIGERIA

Studies were carried out to determine the prevalence of malaria parasite infection among infants and children (0-12yrs) in Ota, Southwestern Nigeria between April and December 2008. The two hospitals used were Ota General Hospital and Covenant University Health Centre, Canaanland, Ota. Thick and thin films were made and stained using standard parasitological procedures. Structured Questionnaires were distributed to ascertain the age, sex, drugs or insecticides used and state of health of the subjects before recruiting them into the study. Overall, 215 (80.5%) of the 267 children investigated were found to have malaria infection. Age group (0-5 years) had the highest frequency rate of 84.7% with mean parasite density of 900 and the difference between the age groups was statistically significant (p<0.05). Children of illiterates from suburb villages had the highest mean parasite density of 850 with 78.1% prevalence rate. 20% of the children were given local herbs and 22% used orthodox medicine as prophylaxis. Only 18% used insecticide treated mosquito nets while 24% of the parents spray insecticides to prevent mosquito bites. There is therefore need for more awareness on effective use of drugs and Insecticide Treated bed nets in malaria hyperendemic regions

PREVALENCE AND MANAGEMENT OF FALCIPARIUM MALARIA AMONG INFANTS AND CHILDREN IN OTA, OGUN STATE, SOUTHWESTERN NIGERIA

Studies were carried out to determine the prevalence of malaria parasite infection among infants and children (0-12yrs) in Ota, Southwestern Nigeria between April and December 2008. The two hospitals used were Ota General Hospital and Covenant University Health Centre, Canaanland, Ota. Thick and thin films were made and stained using standard parasitological procedures. Structured Questionnaires were distributed to ascertain the age, sex, drugs or insecticides used and state of health of the subjects before recruiting them into the study. Overall, 215 (80.5%) of the 267 children investigated were found to have malaria infection. Age group (0-5 years) had the highest frequency rate of 84.7% with mean parasite density of 900 and the difference between the age groups was statistically significant (p<0.05). Children of illiterates from suburb villages had the highest mean parasite density of 850 with 78.1% prevalence rate. 20% of the children were given local herbs and 22% used orthodox medicine as prophylaxis. Only 18% used insecticide treated mosquito nets while 24% of the parents spray insecticides to prevent mosquito bites. There is therefore need for more awareness on effective use of drugs and Insecticide Treated bed nets in malaria hyperendemic regions

Hesitancy towards Covid-19 vaccination among the healthcare workers in Iraqi Kurdistan

Objective: To investigate Covid-19 vaccine hesitancy among Iraqi healthcare workers-HCWs. Study design: Cross-sectional survey. Methods: In February 2021, an anonymous questionnaire on the willingness of receiving Covid-19 vaccination was submitted to a sample of HWCs in the Dohuk Governorate, Iraqi Kurdistan Region. Overall, 1704 questionnaires were analysed by means of univariate and multivariate statistics. Results: The sample included 978 males and 726 females (Mean age: 36.9&nbsp;±&nbsp;10.1), working in Primary Health Centres (65.8%) or in Public Hospitals (34.2%). Professions ranged from being physician/paramedics (39.3%) to administrative/laboratory staff (31.7%); 17.0% had attended up to secondary school, the rest had a higher education. Considering health conditions, 1.8% reported a poor health status and 11.5% a chronic disease.Overall, 475 people (27.9%) reported Covid-19 vaccine hesitancy, with fear of side-effects (41.4%) and lack of confidence in using the vaccine (23.5%) being the most common perceived barriers. Midwifes (61.1%) and assistant nurses (45.5%) were the most hesitant; physicians the less (12.3%). According to a binary logistic model, holding lower educational level (adjOR&nbsp;=&nbsp;2.158; 95% CI:1.654-2.815), being female (adjOR&nbsp;=&nbsp;1.622; 95% CI:1.289-2.040), having pre-existing chronic disease (adjOR&nbsp;=&nbsp;1.954; 95% CI:1.280-2.983), and self-perceiving a poor health status (adjOR&nbsp;=&nbsp;3.673; 95% CI:1.610-8.379) were independent predictors of higher odds of hesitancy. Conclusion: Covid-19 vaccine hesitancy among HCWs represents an important public health concern, since they play a paramount role for a successful vaccination campaign within the community. Our results show the need in Iraq to implement educational interventions for strengthening the confidence of HWCs towards the Covid-19 vaccine, therefore positively influencing the general public's attitude

THE RELATIONSHIP OF THE BODY MASS INDEX AND WAIST CIRCUMFERENCE WITH BLOOD PRESSURE AT KARANG ASAM PUBLIC HEALTH CENTER SAMARINDA

Hypertension is the most common cause of cardiovascular disease and it is a major problem in both developed and developing countries. Obesity is one of the main risk factors of hypertension. Hypertension and obesity are health problems which its prevalence is continues to increase in Indonesia. The anthropometric index that can be used to determine nutritional status are the body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference measurement. This study was an observational analytic with cross sectional method. The sample of this study was 275 respondent who were selected using the consecutive sampling method in Karang Asam public health center Samarinda. Data of this study were obtained from direct measurement of height, weight, waist circumference and blood pressure of respondent and data were analyzed by using chi square test. The result of statistical test showed that there was relationship between body mass index (p = 0,000 ; OR= 5,234 ; 95% CI= 3,090-8,865) and waist circumference (p = 0,000; OR=5,489 ; 95% CI= 3,233 – 9,318) with blood pressure. There was a significant relationship between body mass index and waist circumference with blood pressure at Karang Asam Public Health Center Samarinda

Combined miRNA and SERS urine liquid biopsy for the point-of-care diagnosis and molecular stratification of bladder cancer

Background: Bladder cancer (BC) has the highest per-patient cost of all cancer types. Hence, we aim to develop a non-invasive, point-of-care tool for the diagnostic and molecular stratification of patients with BC based on combined microRNAs (miRNAs) and surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) profiling of urine. Methods: Next-generation sequencing of the whole miRNome and SERS profiling were performed on urine samples collected from 15 patients with BC and 16 control subjects (CTRLs). A retrospective cohort (BC = 66 and CTRL = 50) and RT-qPCR were used to confirm the selected differently expressed miRNAs. Diagnostic accuracy was assessed using machine learning algorithms (logistic regression, naive Bayes, and random forest), which were trained to discriminate between BC and CTRL, using as input either miRNAs, SERS, or both. The molecular stratification of BC based on miRNA and SERS profiling was performed to discriminate between high-grade and low-grade tumors and between luminal and basal types. Results: Combining SERS data with three differentially expressed miRNAs (miR-34a-5p, miR-205-3p, miR-210-3p) yielded an Area Under the Curve (AUC) of 0.92 +/- 0.06 in discriminating between BC and CTRL, an accuracy which was superior either to miRNAs (AUC = 0.84 +/- 0.03) or SERS data (AUC = 0.84 +/- 0.05) individually. When evaluating the classification accuracy for luminal and basal BC, the combination of miRNAs and SERS profiling averaged an AUC of 0.95 +/- 0.03 across the three machine learning algorithms, again better than miRNA (AUC = 0.89 +/- 0.04) or SERS (AUC = 0.92 +/- 0.05) individually, although SERS alone performed better in terms of classification accuracy. Conclusion: miRNA profiling synergizes with SERS profiling for point-of-care diagnostic and molecular stratification of BC. By combining the two liquid biopsy methods, a clinically relevant tool that can aid BC patients is envisaged

Shaping white light through electroluminescent fully organic coupled microcavities.

A new approach to generate and manage white light from an organic light emitting diode is shown. It consists in the coupling of two microcavity resonators made of only metallic and organic layers, whose operation principle is analogous to that of two mechanical harmonic oscillators coupled by a spring . This approach allows the solution of key open points in the field of plastic white light source

A Mendelian polymorphism underlying quantitative variations of goat αs1-casein

Using SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and rocket immunoelectrophoresis, 3 new alleles, designated αs1-CnB-,αs1-CnF and αs1-Cno, were identified at the goat αs1-Cn locus, in addition to alleles αs1-CnA, αs1-CnB and αs1-CnC previously reported by BOULANGER al. (1984). Alleles αs1-CnA, αs1-CnB and αs1-CnC are associated with a high content of αs1-casein (approximate mean contribution of each allele being 3.6 g/I) compared to αs1-CnF with a low content (0.6 g/I) and αs1-CnB- with an intermediate content (1.6 g/1) ; αs1-Cno appears to be a true null allele. In a sample of 213 Alpine females from 49 flocks in West Central France, the frequencies of the 6 alleles were : αs1-CnA = 0.14 ; αs1-CnB = 0.05 ; αs1-CnC = 0.01 ; αs1-CnB- = 0.34 ; αs1-CnF = 0.41 ; and αs1-Cno = 0.05. In a sample of 159 Saanen females from 52 flocks of the same region, the frequencies were : αs1-CnA = 0.07 ; αs1-CnB = 0.06 ; αs1-CnC = 0 ; αs1-CnB- = 0.41 ; αs1-CnF = 0.43 ; αs1-Cno = 0.03. Additional data confirm that loci αs1-Cn and αs2-Cn are closely linked. Preliminary investigations indicated a significant superiority in casein content of milks from goats possessing the allele αs1-CnA, as compared to that of milks from goats of genotypes αs1-CnF / αs1-CnF and αs1-CnB- /αs1-CnF and, in a large herd (N = 251), a strong correlation was observed between the αs1-casein content and the rennet-casein content of milk (r = 0.68 ; b = 0.64).A l’aide d’électrophorèses en gel de polyacrylamide SDS et d’immuno-électrophorèses « rocket », 3 allèles, appelés αs1-CnB-, αs1-CnF et αs1-Cno ont été identifiées au locus αs1-Cn de la chèvre, en plus des allèles αs1-CnA, αs1-CnB et αs1-CnC déjà détectés par BOULANGER et al. (1984). Les allèles αs1-CnA, αs1-CnB et αs1-CnC sont associés à un taux élevé de caséine αs1 (contribution approximative de chaque allèle : 3,6 g/I), l’allèle αs1-CnF a un taux faible (0,6 g/I) et l’allèle αs1-CnB a un taux intermédiaire (1,6 g/1). Dans un échantillon de 213 femelles Alpine provenant de 49 troupeaux du centre-ouest de la France, les fréquences des 6 allèles actuellement identifiés étaient les suivantes : αs1-CnA = 0,14 ; αs1-CnB = 0,05 ; αs1-CnC = 0,01; αs1-CnB- = 0,34 ; αs1-CnF = 0,41 et αs1-Cno = 0,05. Dans un échantillon de 159 femelles Saanen provenant de 52 troupeaux de la même région, les fréquences étaient : αs1-CnA = 0,07 ; αs1-CnB = 0,06 ; αs1-CnC = 0; αs1-CnB- = 0,41 ; αs1-CnF = 0,43 ; αs1-Cno = 0,03. Des données supplémentaires confirment que les loci αs1-Cn et αs2-Cn sont étroitement liés. Des investigations préliminaires révèlent que le taux de caséine des laits des chèvres possédant l’allèle αs1-CnA est significativement supérieur à celui des laits des chèvres de génotype αs1-CnF / αs1-CnF ou αs1-CnB- /αs1-CnF; parailleurs, dans un grand troupeau (N = 251), une forte corrélation a été observée entre le taux de caséine αs1 et le taux de matières azotées coagulables (r = 0,68 ; b = 0,64)