Knowledge and Determinants of Emergency Contraception use Among Students in Tertiary Institution in Osun State, Nigeria

Background: Emergency contraception (EC) or postcoital contraception has the potential to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies and thus the abortion rate. Tertiary institutions’ students are a unique group with very high social interaction, but by virtue of their level of education, probably forms a group in any community, which should have an overall higher level of awareness and use of available methods of contraception, including that of EC.Aim: The aim of this study was to assess the knowledge and attitude toward EC, and as well to determine the prevalence of emergency contraceptive use among the students of tertiary institutions in Osun State, Nigeria.Subjects and Methods: A cross‑sectional study using the self‑administered structured questionnaire on questions relating to the socio‑demographic characteristics of the students, sexual relations, knowledge of contraception in general and EC, use and determinants of EC use.Results: A total of 384 of the 400 questionnaire were returned of which male respondents were178/384 (46.4%) while the females were 206/384 (53.6%). Two hundred and seven respondents 207/384 (53.9%) were university students, while 177/384 (46.1%) were polytechnic students. Most respondent 142/376 (37.8%) derived knowledge of EC from friends and family life education from school 186/373 (49.9%). More than half of respondents are in sexual relationships, with only 71/384 (18.5%) showing good knowledge of EC. However, use of EC was 106/384 (27.6%).Conclusion: Most tertiary institutions’ students are involved in a sexual relationship, have poor knowledge of EC and use of EC also. Formal family life education, partner approval, and previous use of EC encourage further use. There is a need for carefully designed education programs and promotion of family life education with deliberate awareness on safe sex practices, including EC in existing students’ health enlightenment programs on campuses. Keywords: Emergency contraception, family life education, Nigeria, students, tertiary institutio

Characterisation of Antibody Interactions with the G Protein of Vesicular Stomatitis Virus Indiana Strain and Other Vesiculovirus G Proteins

Vesicular stomatitis virus Indiana strain G protein (VSVind.G) is the most commonly used envelope glycoprotein to pseudotype lentiviral vectors (LV) for experimental and clinical applications. Recently, G proteins derived from other vesiculoviruses (VesG), for example Cocal virus, have been proposed as alternative LV envelopes with possible advantages compared to VSVind.G. Well-characterised antibodies that recognise VesG will be useful for vesiculovirus research, development of G protein-containing advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs), and deployment of VSVind-based vaccine vectors. Here we show that one commercially available monoclonal antibody, 8G5F11, binds to and neutralises G proteins from three strains of VSV as well as Cocal, and Maraba viruses, whereas the other commercially available monoclonal anti-VSVind.G antibody, IE9F9, binds to and neutralises only VSVind.G. Using a combination of G protein chimeras and site-directed mutations, we mapped the binding epitopes of IE9F9 and 8G5F11 on VSVind.G. IE9F9 binds close to the receptor binding site and competes with soluble low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR) for binding to VSVind.G, explaining its mechanism of neutralisation. In contrast, 8G5F11 binds close to a region known to undergo conformational changes when the G protein moves to its post-fusion structure, and we propose that 8G5F11 cross-neutralises VesGs by inhibiting this.IMPORTANCE VSVind.G is currently regarded as the gold-standard envelope to pseudotype lentiviral vectors. However, recently other G proteins derived from vesiculoviruses have been proposed as alternative envelopes. Here, we investigated two commercially available anti-VSVind.G monoclonal antibodies for their ability to cross-react with other vesiculovirus G proteins, and identified the epitopes they recognise, and explored their neutralisation activity. We have identified 8G5F11, for the first time, as a cross-neutralising antibody against several vesiculovirus G proteins. Furthermore, we elucidated the two different neutralisation mechanisms employed by these two monoclonal antibodies. Understanding how cross-neutralising antibodies interact with other G proteins may be of interest in the context of host-pathogen interaction and co-evolution as well as providing the opportunity to modify the G proteins and improve G protein-containing medicinal products and vaccine vectors

Análisis del impacto de las publicaciones sobre PYMES en revistas latinoamericanas. Parte 1: Primera Parte

oai:ojs.rmlconsultores.com:article/1From a search of the literature related to Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs) in the Network of Scientific Journals from Latin America and the Caribbean, Spain and Portugal (REDALYC) were determined 149 articles related to the topic in 8 countries and international organizations referenced in that network. The most important journals for the subject and also from the analysis of the keywords presented in the abstract, the relevant thematics for the publications about SMEs were found. Utilizing Perish (Harzing, 2007) the literature on SMEs referenced in Google Scholar and h indicator was determined. Of the 1000 articles founded 215 had an h index > = 1 indicator and 75% of the articles referenced even they appear in Google Scholar, have not a real impact (h = 0). The methodology allows to recommend a simple form that can be incorporated in the Academic Master Programs for determining for a thesis topic, those articles published an indexed in scientific journals and with a real impact for the topic.Se determinaron a partir de una búsqueda de las publicaciones relacionadas con la Pequeña y Mediana Empresa (PYMES) en la Red de Revistas Cientí­ficas de América Latina y el Caribe, España y Portugal (REDALYC), 149 artí­culos relacionados con el tema en revistas de 8 paí­ses y de Organismos Internacionales referenciados en la misma.  Se determinó igualmente las revistas más importantes para el tema en cuestión y a partir del análisis de las palabras claves presentadas en el resumen, las sub temáticas que más se analizan en cuanto a PYMES para las revista indexadas en la red mencionada. Se empleó la herramienta Perish (Harzing, 2007) para el análisis de las publicaciones sobre la temática PYMES referenciadas en el Google Académico y su indicador h. De los 1000 artí­culos encontrados 215 tienen un indicador h >= 1 y el 75 % de los artí­culos aunque aparezcan referenciados en el Google Académico, no han tenido un impacto real (h=0). La metodologí­a empleada permite recomendar una forma simple que puede incorporarse en los Programas Académicos de Maestrí­a y que permite determinar para un tema de Tesis, aquellos artí­culos publicados en revistas indexadas y con mayor impacto para la misma.Se determinaron a partir de una búsqueda de las publicaciones relacionadas con la Pequeña y Mediana Empresa (PYMES) en la Red de Revistas Cientí­ficas de América Latina y el Caribe, España y Portugal (REDALYC), 149 artí­culos relacionados con el tema en revistas de 8 paí­ses y de Organismos Internacionales referenciados en la misma.  Se determinó igualmente las revistas más importantes para el tema en cuestión y a partir del análisis de las palabras claves presentadas en el resumen, las sub temáticas que más se analizan en cuanto a PYMES para las revista indexadas en la red mencionada. Se empleó la herramienta Perish (Harzing, 2007) para el análisis de las publicaciones sobre la temática PYMES referenciadas en el Google Académico y su indicador h. De los 1000 artí­culos encontrados 215 tienen un indicador h >= 1 y el 75 % de los artí­culos aunque aparezcan referenciados en el Google Académico, no han tenido un impacto real (h=0). La metodologí­a empleada permite recomendar una forma simple que puede incorporarse en los Programas Académicos de Maestrí­a y que permite determinar para un tema de Tesis, aquellos artí­culos publicados en revistas indexadas y con mayor impacto para la misma

Cancer mortality patterns in Ghana: a 10-year review of autopsies and hospital mortality

BACKGROUND: Cancer mortality pattern in Ghana has not been reviewed since 1953, and there are no population-based data available for cancer morbidity and mortality patterns in Ghana due to the absence of a population-based cancer registry anywhere in the country. METHODS: A retrospective review of autopsy records of Department of Pathology, and medical certificate of cause of death books from all the wards of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH), Accra, Ghana during the 10-year period 1991–2000 was done. RESULTS: The present study reviews 3659 cancer deaths at the KBTH over the 10-year period. The male-to-female ratio was 1.2:1. The mean age for females was 46.5 [Standard Deviation (SD), 20.8] years, whilst that of males was 47.8 (SD, 22.2) years. The median age was 48 years for females and 50 years for males.Both sexes showed a first peak in childhood, a drop in adolescence and young adulthood, and a second peak in the middle ages followed by a fall in the elderly, with the second peak occurring a decade earlier in females than in males. The commonest cause of cancer death in females was malignancies of the breast [Age-Standardized Cancer Ratio (ASCAR), 17.24%], followed closely by haematopoietic organs (14.69%), liver (10.97%) and cervix (8.47%). Whilst in males, the highest mortality was from the liver (21.15%), followed by prostate (17.35%), haematopoietic organs (15.57%), and stomach (7.26%). CONCLUSION: Considering the little information available on cancer patterns in Ghana, this combined autopsy and death certification data from the largest tertiary hospital is of considerable value in providing reliable information on the cancer patterns in Ghana

A review of combined advanced oxidation technologies for the removal of organic pollutants from water

Water pollution through natural and anthropogenic activities has become a global problem causing short-and long-term impact on human and ecosystems. Substantial quantity of individual or mixtures of organic pollutants enter the surface water via point and nonpoint sources and thus affect the quality of freshwater. These pollutants are known to be toxic and difficult to remove by mere biological treatment. To date, most researches on the removal of organic pollutants from wastewater were based on the exploitation of individual treatment process. This single-treatment technology has inherent challenges and shortcomings with respect to efficiency and economics. Thus, application of two advanced treatment technologies characterized with high efficiency with respect to removal of primary and disinfection by-products in wastewater is desirable. This review article focuses on the application of integrated technologies such as electrohydraulic discharge with heterogeneous photocatalysts or sonophotocatalysis to remove target pollutants. The information gathered from more than 100 published articles, mostly laboratories studies, shows that process integration effectively remove and degrade recalcitrant toxic contaminants in wastewater better than single-technology processing. This review recommends an improvement on this technology (integrated electrohydraulic discharge with heterogeneous photocatalysts) viz-a-vis cost reduction in order to make it accessible and available in the rural and semi-urban settlement. Further recommendation includes development of an economic model to establish the cost implications of the combined technology. Proper monitoring, enforcement of the existing environmental regulations, and upgrading of current wastewater treatment plants with additional treatment steps such as photocatalysis and ozonation will greatly assist in the removal of environmental toxicants

Unexpected removal of the most neutral cationic pharmaceutical in river waters

Contamination of surface waters by pharmaceuticals is now widespread. There are few data on their environmental behaviour, particularly for those which are cationic at typical surface water pH. As the external surfaces of bacterio-plankton cells are hydrophilic with a net negative charge, it was anticipated that bacterio-plankton in surface-waters would preferentially remove the most extensively-ionised cation at a given pH. To test this hypothesis, the persistence of four, widely-used, cationic pharmaceuticals, chloroquine, quinine, fluphenazine and levamisole, was assessed in batch microcosms, comprising water and bacterio-plankton, to which pharmaceuticals were added and incubated for 21 days. Results show that levamisole concentrations decreased by 19 % in microcosms containing bacterio-plankton, and by 13 % in a parallel microcosm containing tripeptide as a priming agent. In contrast to levamisole, concentrations of quinine, chloroquine and fluphenazine were unchanged over 21 days in microcosms containing bacterio-plankton. At the river-water pH, levamisole is 28 % cationic, while quinine is 91–98 % cationic, chloroquine 99 % cationic and fluphenazine 72–86 % cationic. Thus, the most neutral compound, levamisole, showed greatest removal, contradicting the expected bacterio-plankton preference for ionised molecules. However, levamisole was the most hydrophilic molecule, based on its octanol–water solubility coefficient (K ow). Overall, the pattern of pharmaceutical behaviour within the incubations did not reflect the relative hydrophilicity of the pharmaceuticals predicted by the octanol–water distribution coefficient, D ow, suggesting that improved predictive power, with respect to modelling bioaccumulation, may be needed to develop robust environmental risk assessments for cationic pharmaceuticals

Characterization of antibody interactions with the G protein of vesicular stomatitis virus Indiana strain and other vesiculovirus G proteins

Vesicular stomatitis virus Indiana strain G protein (VSVind.G) is the most commonly used envelope glycoprotein to pseudotype lentiviral vectors (LV) for experimental and clinical applications. Recently, G proteins derived from other vesiculoviruses (VesG), for example, Cocal virus, have been proposed as alternative LV envelopes with possible advantages over VSVind.G. Well-characterized antibodies that recognize VesG will be useful for vesiculovirus research, development of G protein-containing advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs), and deployment of VSVind-based vaccine vectors. Here, we show that one commercially available monoclonal antibody, 8G5F11, binds to and neutralizes G proteins from three strains of VSV, as well as Cocal and Maraba viruses, whereas the other commercially available monoclonal anti-VSVind.G antibody, IE9F9, binds to and neutralizes only VSVind.G. Using a combination of G protein chimeras and site-directed mutations, we mapped the binding epitopes of IE9F9 and 8G5F11 on VSVind.G. IE9F9 binds close to the receptor binding site and competes with soluble low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR) for binding to VSVind.G, explaining its mechanism of neutralization. In contrast, 8G5F11 binds close to a region known to undergo conformational changes when the G protein moves to its postfusion structure, and we propose that 8G5F11 cross-neutralizes VesGs by inhibiting this

Lentivector producer cell lines with stably expressed vesiculovirus envelopes

Retroviral and lentiviral vectors often use the envelope G protein from the vesicular stomatitis virus Indiana strain (VSVind.G). However, lentivector producer cell lines that stably express VSVind.G have not been reported, presumably because of its cytotoxicity, preventing simple scale-up of vector production. Interestingly, we showed that VSVind.G and other vesiculovirus G from the VSV New Jersey strain (VSVnj), Cocal virus (COCV), and Piry virus (PIRYV) could be constitutively expressed and supported lentivector production for up to 10 weeks. All G-enveloped particles were robust, allowing concentration and freeze-thawing. COCV.G and PIRYV.G were resistant to complement inactivation, and, using chimeras between VSVind.G and COCV.G, the determinant for complement inactivation of VSVind.G was mapped to amino acid residues 136–370. Clonal packaging cell lines using COCV.G could be generated; however, during attempts to establish LV producer cells, vector superinfection was observed following the introduction of a lentivector genome. This could be prevented by culturing the cells with the antiviral drug nevirapine. As an alternative countermeasure, we demonstrated that functional lentivectors could be reconstituted by admixing supernatant from stable cells producing unenveloped virus with supernatant containing envelopes harvested from cells stably expressing VSVind.G, COCV.G, or PIRYV.G