Is thyroid stimulating hormone titration mandatory in the routine work-up of African males from infertile couples?

Background: The impact of thyroid hormones on male reproductive function is still insufficiently understood. The objectives of this study were to determine the frequency of thyroid dysfunction in men from infertile couples and to establish an association between TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) values and sperm parameters.Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional analytical study on a consecutive series of men managed for couple infertility in two reference hospitals of Yaoundé from November 2017 to May 2018. For each participant, a questionnaire was administered, TSH was assayed using electro-chemo-luminescence and sperm analyzed. Statistical methods used were the Mann-Whitney test and the Spearman correlation coefficient with a significance threshold of 5%.Results: Overall, 123 men were recruited. The median age was 44 years old [38-50 years]; 60 (48.79%) patients had couple infertility lasting between 1 and 5 years. Primary infertility of the couple was the most common (82 cases, 66.70%). After sperm analysis, 86 patients (70%) had one or more anomalies. TSH titration revealed 03 (2.44%) cases of subclinical hyperthyroidism, 05 (4.06%) subclinical hypothyroidism and 115 (93.50%) euthyroidism. Significant associations were found between TSH and sperm parameters in the group of patients with thyroid dysfunction, but none in the euthyroid group.Conclusions: Frequency of dysthyroidism is low among African males from infertile couples. We noted significant correlations between TSH values and sperm parameters. The low frequency of thyroid dysfunction would be against a TSH titration in the routine work-up of these patients

A Comparison of the Sensitivity and Fecal Egg Counts of the McMaster Egg Counting and Kato-Katz Thick Smear Methods for Soil-Transmitted Helminths

Currently, in public health, the reduction in the number of eggs excreted in stools after drug administration is used to monitor the efficacy of drugs against parasitic worms. Yet, studies comparing diagnostic methods for the enumeration of eggs in stool are few. We compared the Kato-Katz thick smear (Kato-Katz) and McMaster egg counting (McMaster) methods, which are commonly used diagnostic methods in public and animal health, respectively, for the diagnosis and enumeration of eggs of roundworms, whipworms and hookworms in 1,536 stool samples from children in five trials across Africa, Asia and South America. The Kato-Katz method was the most sensitive for the detection of roundworms, but there was no significant difference in sensitivity between the methods for hookworms and whipworms. The sensitivity of the methods differed across the trials and magnitude of egg counts. The Kato-Katz method resulted in significantly higher egg counts, but these were subject to lack of accuracy caused by intrinsic properties of this method. McMaster provided more reliable estimates of drug efficacies. We conclude that the McMaster is an alternative method for monitoring large-scale treatment programs. It allows accurate monitoring of drug efficacy and can be easily performed under field conditions

Dissociative excitation of NeD/sup +/

Measurements of NeD/sup +/ dissociative excitation cross section were obtained in Louvain-la-Neuve (UCL, Belgium) by using the animated crossed electron-ion beam method. The electronic structure of the system was calculated by using quantum chemistry calculations for the NeD/sup +/ ion and ab initio electron scattering calculations using the complex Kohn variational method for the resonant NeD neutral complex formed by the temporary capture of the electron by the ion. The cross section for dissociative excitation are then calculated below the second excitation thresholds of the ion where the process is dominated by a series of doubly-excited resonance states. Theory and experiment are then compared.Anglai

Emergence of CTX-M-15-producing enterobacteria in Cameroon and characterization of a blaCTX-M-15-carrying element

CTX-M-15-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae and Escherichia coli emerged recently in Cameroon. CTX-M-15 was encoded by two different multiresistance plasmids, of which one carried an ISEcp1-blaCTX-M-15 element flanked by a 5-bp target site duplication and inserted within a Tn2-derived sequence. A truncated form of this element in the second plasmid was identified

The short-range reaction matrix in MQDT treatment of dissociative recombination and related processes

We discuss the Lippmann-Schwinger equation which governs the short-range reaction matrix (K-matrix) in the two-step multichannel quantum defect theory (MQDT) of dissociative recombination and related processes. We show that, if the energy dependence of the electronic coupling between the dissociative state and the ionization continua can be neglected, the convergence of the Born expansion of the Lippmann-Schwinger equation is achieved at second order. For the case of energy-dependent interaction, higher order effects are tested using a non-perturbative method for solving the Lippmann-Schwinger equation. Numerical examples are given for the dissociative recombination and vibrational de-excitation of the H$_{2}^{+}$ molecular ion

Emergence of CTX-M-15-Producing Enterobacteria in Cameroon and Characterization of a bla(CTX-M-15)-Carrying Element

CTX-M-15-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae and Escherichia coli emerged recently in Cameroon. CTX-M-15 was encoded by two different multiresistance plasmids, of which one carried an ISEcp1-bla(CTX-M-15) element flanked by a 5-bp target site duplication and inserted within a Tn2-derived sequence. A truncated form of this element in the second plasmid was identified

Absolute cross sections and kinetic energy release distributions for electron-impact dissociative excitation and ionization of NeD+

Absolute cross sections for electron impact dissociative excitation and ionization of NeD+ leading to the formation of singly and multiply charged products (D+, Ne+, Ne2+ and Ne3+) are reported, in the energy range from their respective thresholds to 2.5 keV. The animated crossed-beams method is used. For singly charged fragments, absolute cross sections are obtained separately for dissociative excitation and for dissociative ionization. Dissociative excitation is seen to be restricted to the low-energy range (<300 eV) and the D+ formation dominates over the Ne+ one. At the maximum (around 35 eV), absolute cross sections for dissociative excitation are found to be (3.6 +/- 0.8) x 10(-17) cm(2) and (6.3 +/- 1.4) x 10(-17) cm(2) for Ne+ and D+, respectively; the corresponding appearance energies are (9.1 +/- 0.5) eV and (10.0 +/- 0.5) eV. The absolute cross section for dissociative ionization (Ne++D+ formation) is found to be (7.1 +/- 1.4) x 10(-17) cm(2), around 155 eV, and the threshold energy is (26.8 +/- 0.5) eV. For multiply charged products, absolute cross sections are found, around the maximum, to be (5.4 +/- 0.5) x 10(-18) cm(2) and (18.2 +/- 2.6) x 10(-20) cm(2) for Ne2+ and Ne3+, respectively; the corresponding thresholds are (53.1 +/- 1.0) eV and (132 +/- 5) eV. Kinetic energy release distributions are determined for each detected ionic product. The presented potential energy curves correspond to dissociation channels, which are significant for the discussion of present results. At fixed electron energy, the cross sections for the various ionization channels are seen to decrease exponentially with the potential energy of each dissociated ion pair