Evaluation of a rapid human Immunodeficiency virus test at two community clinics in Kwazulu-Natal

Objectives. To establish whether the Determine (Abbott, Tokyo, Japan) HIV antibody test is suitable as an on-site rapid HIV test at primary health care centres by determining its sensitivity and specificity compared with the standard enzyme-linked immunoassay (ELISA) test. Design. Prospective field evaluation study of a rapid HIV test compared with an ELISA. Setting. KwaDabeka clinic and StMary's Hospital, urban primary health care clinics in the Durban western metropolitan area. Subjects. Women attending antenatal clinics and those presenting at onset of labour. Outcome measures. Performance of the rapid test versus conventional ELISA testing, sensitivity; specificity, feasibility of implementing the test at primary health care clinics, prevalence of HIV infection at study sites and its association with patient booking status. Results. A total of 323 specimens were tested from patients from two community clinics, KwaDabeka (N = 159) and St Mary's (N = 164). The overall HIV prevalence was 45.5%. There was a significant difference in HIV prevalence (P < 0.001) between KwaDabeka (35.2%) and St Mary's (55.5%). Of the participants 49.2% were from KwaDabeka clinic and 50.8% from StMary's Hospital. Overall, HIV prevalence among unbooked participants was 43.0%, and among booked participants 46.3%. This was not statistically different (P = 0.612) between the two clinics. The rapid test showed a sensitivity and specificity of 100% when compared with a conventional diagnostic ELISA test. Conclusion. The Determine rapid HIV antibody test is sensitive, specific, easy to perform and provides a valuable method for HIV testing especially in settings with limited access to laboratory infrastructures and trained laboratory staff

PCV62 Annual Medication Cost Attributed To Each Kind Of Treatment Of Patients Subjected To Crmds Implantation

Le gouvernement de la Dominique a adopté une politique vigilante sur 1importation et l'utilisation de pesticides. Dans ce pays, ure Office de contrôle des pesticides octroie des licences d'importation aux firmes agrochimiques tandis que le rninistere de l'Agriculture organise des Sessions de formation destinées aux agriculteurs et portant sur 1utilisation de ces produits. En outre, ure programme d'analyse régulière des sols a été mis en place pour détecter la présence de résidus de pesticides. Comme la rnajorité des pays ACP, la Dominique dépend de l’agriculture pour nourrir sa population et générer des devises à l'ëxportation. Dans cette agriculture, la banane est un des piliers de L’économie agriccolle nationale; il est indéniable que La cornpétiton sur le marché européen va s'accroitre lurs de la creation effective-du rnarché unique en I992-. Pour' assurer leur avenir, les agriculteurs de la Dominique souhaitent maintenir to quantité et la qualité de la production de bananes mais aussi diversifier leurs exportations grâce au développement de la production de fruits, de légumes et de fleurs. Dans cette optique, 1utilisation croissante de pesticides est inévitable et suppose donc une grande, vigilance quant à leur utilisation. Dans la Dominique, le relief est escarpé, les pluies abondantes, les sols volcaniques : tous ces facteurs fàvorisent le ruissellement et le lessivage des sols.'Le risque de pollution des nappes phréatiques est donc potëntiellement important , notamment dans les:régions bananières 'ou les paysans ont recours aux nematicidés. Pour minimiser ces- risques, seuls les produits agrochimiques testés sort autorisés à l’importation et Ieur utilisation est contrôlée par le ministère de 1Agriculture. Ce dernier incite par ailleurs les groupements paysans à suivre des sessions régulières de formation ou ure enseignement est dispensé portant sur le mélange et l’epandagé des produits chimiques, sur 1utilisation de vêtements de protection et sur le stockage des denrées selon les normes de sécurité. Parallèlement, un programme de détection des, résidus de pesticides a été lancé dernièrement, grâce à 1appui de la FAO qui fournit des -équipements de chromatographie par gaz liquide. Les agriculteurs de la Dominique ont compris 1importance de ces formations et la majorité d'entre, eux sont aujourd’hui conscients de la nécessite d’exporter des produit de qualité,et de 1importance d'une utilisation maîtrisée des pesticides .Les épandages «excessifs» (en particulier, surdosage et mélanges inadéquats), fréquents dans de nombreux pays, sont extrêmement rares à la Dominique .Dans ce pays, on utilise les pesticides avec prudence et économie : alors, le risque est minime pour les agriculteurs les consommateurs et 'l'environnement. Pour plus de détails : Colin Bulley Chief Technical Officer Ministry of Agriculture Roseau DOMINIQUELe gouvernement de la Dominique a adopté une politique vigilante sur 1importation et l'utilisation de pesticides. Dans ce pays, ure Office de contrôle des pesticides octroie des licences d'importation aux firmes agrochimiques tandis que le..

Mechanisms, Risk Factors, and Management of Acquired Long QT Syndrome: A Comprehensive Review

Long QT syndrome is characterized by prolongation of the corrected QT (QTc) interval on the surface electrocardiogram and is associated with precipitation of torsade de pointes (TdP), a polymorphic ventricular tachycardia that may cause sudden death. Acquired long QT syndrome describes pathologic excessive prolongation of the QT interval, upon exposure to an environmental stressor, with reversion back to normal following removal of the stressor. The most common environmental stressor in acquired long QT syndrome is drug therapy. Acquired long QT syndrome is an important issue for clinicians and a significant public health problem concerning the large number of drugs with this adverse effect with a potentially fatal outcome, the large number of patients exposed to these drugs, and our inability to predict the risk for a given individual. In this paper, we focus on mechanisms underlying QT prolongation, risk factors for torsades de pointes and describe the short- and long-term treatment of acquired long QT syndrome

A04-1 Myocardial adrenergic innervation in patients with unexplained syncope

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Poster Session II, July 14th 2010 — Abstracts Improvements in the design of a kayak-ergometer using a sliding footrest-seat complex

AbstractAs observed previously in rowing, kayaking an ergometer becomes more and more popular. Nowadays, indoor kayak championships are organized performed on ergometer designed with a fixed footrest-seat complex. The main goal when one designs ergometers is to reproduce as closest as possible the on-water conditions. The reliability with on-water condition is usually assessed using both physiological and kinematics parameters. The previous studies of our research group have shown that the dynamics of the in situ movement has also to be reproduced. In other words, major muscular groups (who generated the joint torque and by the way the contact forces) involved in kayaking should be recruit with the same timing during on-water and ergometer kayaking. At the 7th ISEA conference, our research group presented a method based on numerical optimization to design a kayak ergometer equipped with a sliding footrest-seat complex that reproduces the acceleration generated in flatwater kayak. Based on these preliminary results, we have constructed a new ergometer. Then, the purpose of this study was to present the last developments performed on this ergometer and preliminary 3D kinematics analysis from elite kayakers. The characteristics (stiffness and damping) of the bungee cord linking the back of the frame with the trolley were determined using our previous results. An air brake, composed of a flywheel with a heavy wheel and two freewheel-pulleys on a shaft, simulated the water drag on the blades. However, a magnetic brake was added for specific training sessions. The paddle was linked to the pulleys by two ropes. Each side of the frame is equipped with one slide (1 dof in translation) in order to always keep the directions of the ropes parallel to the long axis of the ergometer whatever the instant of the cycle. First trials performed with elite athlete showed the robustness of all the mechanisms developed. 3D kinematic analysis showed the relevance of the adding slides when compared with on-water paddle trajectories observed during the propulsion phase. An instrumentation (3D force sensors at each contact) coupled with a specific interface that allows real time feedback is under development. This innovative ergometer will be used to collect dynamic and kinematic parameters. They will serve as input data of our simulator in order to carry out intra-athlete comparisons and to still improve the design of kayak ergometers

Probing oral anticoagulation in patients with atrial high rate episodes: Rationale and design of the Non-vitamin K antagonist Oral anticoagulants in patients with Atrial High rate episodes (NOAH-AFNET 6) trial.

Oral anticoagulation prevents ischemic strokes in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). Early detection of AF and subsequent initiation of oral anticoagulation help to prevent strokes in AF patients. Implanted cardiac pacemakers and defibrillators allow seamless detection of atrial high rate episodes (AHRE), but the best antithrombotic therapy in patients with AHRE is not known. RATIONALE: Stroke risk is higher in pacemaker patients with AHRE than in those without, but the available data also show that stroke risk in patients with AHRE is lower than in patients with AF. Furthermore, only a minority of patients with AHRE will develop AF, many strokes occur without a temporal relation to AHRE, and AHRE can reflect other arrhythmias than AF or artifacts. An adequately powered controlled trial of oral anticoagulation in patients with AHRE is needed. DESIGN: The Non-vitamin K antagonist Oral anticoagulants in patients with Atrial High rate episodes (NOAH-AFNET 6 ) trial tests whether oral anticoagulation with edoxaban is superior to prevent the primary efficacy outcome of stroke or cardiovascular death compared with aspirin or no antithrombotic therapy based on evidence-based indications. The primary safety outcome will be major bleeding. NOAH-AFNET 6 will randomize 3,400 patients with AHRE, but without documented AF, aged ≥65 years with at least 1 other stroke risk factor, to oral anticoagulation therapy (edoxaban) or no anticoagulation. All patients will be followed until the end of this investigator-driven, prospective, parallel-group, randomized, event-driven, double-blind, multicenter phase IIIb trial. Patients will be censored when they develop AF and offered open-label anticoagulation. The sponsor is the Atrial Fibrillation NETwork (AFNET). The trial is supported by the DZHK (German Centre for Cardiovascular Research), the BMBF (German Ministry of Education and Research), and Daiichi Sankyo Europe. CONCLUSION: NOAH-AFNET 6 will provide robust information on the effect of oral anticoagulation in patients with atrial high rate episodes detected by implanted devices

Tracing the European course of cardiac resynchronization therapy from 2006 to 2008

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Prognosis, disease progression, and treatment of atrial fibrillation patients during 1 year: follow-up of the Euro Heart Survey on Atrial Fibrillation

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