Influence of the number of sections on reliability of in vitro microleakage evaluation

International audiencePurpose: To test how the number of sections affects the maximum depth of tracer penetration.Materials and methods: This study was simultaneously performed in three different centers. C-shaped Class V cavities were made on 60 human third molars. The cavities were located across the cementum-enamel junction. One restorative system was used: Scotchbond Multi-Purpose and Z100. After restoration, the samples were thermally cycled 3000 times, between 5 and 55 degrees C with a dwell time immersion of 10 seconds. Silver nitrate was used by two centers and basic fuchsin was used by the third. The teeth were longitudinally sectioned with a diamond saw: 5 sections per tooth provided 10 surfaces for evaluation. The penetration of the tracer was recorded on a scale from 0 to 3. The deepest leakage per restoration was identified for comparison with lesser measured values elsewhere in the tooth. The Spearman test was applied to evaluate the relationship between the reference and data from one, two and three sections (i.e. two, four and six measurements). The Kruskal-Wallis test was applied to compare the three centers.Results: Whatever the study center, the Spearman correlation coefficient (r(s)) increased as a function of the number of sections (S) up to three: Center 1 (1S, 0.47; 2S, 0.68; 3S, 1.0), Center 2 (1S, 0.60; 2S, 0.99; 3S, 0.99), Center 3 (S1, 0.40; 2S, 0.73; 3S, 1.0). No statistically significant difference was found between the three study center

“This book is my life…”: A qualitative feasibility study on the use of a self-management support tool

As self-management support is a cost-effective way to enable patients to take an active role in managing their own condition and to address the chronic disease burden, there is a need for contextually appropriate self-management support tools. This study explored the feasibility of using a contextually adapted self-management care-plan booklet for diabetes and hypertension for use in medical consultations in a middle-income country. Focus groups and individual interviews with patients and health care providers were conducted in three primary health care facilities. Four relevant focus areas for feasibility studies were used as the lens for data analysis: acceptability, demand, implementation, practicality. The study revealed a high acceptance of the care-plan booklet by both patients and providers. Patients reported that the booklet increased their knowledge of their conditions. They also indicated that they would share the booklet with friends and families and expressed the need to use it with their providers. Providers mentioned that community health workers and health promoters could play an important role in implementing the tool. The findings of this study contribute to the knowledge base needed for the development and adoption of the self-management component of the South African integrated chronic diseases model. The care-plan booklet can be used to stimulate the interaction between patients, providers and/or family and friends

Healthcare professionals’ perspective can guide post-marketing surveillance of artemisinin-based combination therapy in Uganda

Background: Efficient testing to identify poor quality artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) is important to optimize efforts to control and eliminate malaria. Healthcare professionals interact with both ACT and malaria patients they treat and hence could observe, first-hand, suspect poor quality artemisinin-based combinations linked to poor malaria treatment outcomes and the factors associated with inappropriate use or treatment failure. Methods: A cross-sectional study of 685 HCP perspectives about the efficacy of ACT between June and July 2018 at selected health facilities in Uganda. Medicine samples were obtained from the seven regions of Uganda and tested for quality using the Germany Pharma Health Fund™ minilabs. Results: The average age of the 685 respondents was 30 (SD = 7.4) years. There was an almost equal distribution between male and female respondents (51:49), respectively. Seventy percent (n = 480) were diploma holders and the nurses contributed to half (49%, n = 334) of the study population. Sixty-one percent of the HCPs reported having ever encountered ACT failures while treating uncomplicated malaria. Nineteen percent of HCPs thought that dihydroartemisinin/piperaquine gave the most satisfactory patient treatment outcomes, while 80% HCPs thought that artemether/lumefantrine gave the least satisfactory patient treatment outcomes, possibly due to dosing schedule and pill burden. Healthcare professionals from the Central region (OR = 3.0, CI 0.3–1.0; P = 0.0001), Eastern region (OR = 5.4, CI 2.9–9.8; P = 0.0001) and Northern region (OR = 5.3, CI 2.9–9.9; P = 0.0001) had a higher chance of encountering ACT failure in 4 weeks prior to the survey as compared to those from the western region. Healthcare professionals from private health facilities also had higher chances of encountering ACT failures in past 4 weeks as compared to those from public health facilities (OR = 2.7, CI 1.7–3.9; P = 0.0001). All 192 samples passed the quality screening tests. The random sample of 10% of all samples randomly obtained by the laboratory staff also passed the chemical content analysis and dissolution tests. Conclusion: ACT medicines are widely available over-the-counter to the public and it is very difficult to report and monitor a decrease in efficacy or treatment failure. The perspectives of HCPs on treatment failure or lack of efficacy may potentially guide optimization efforts of sampling methodologies for the quality survey of ACT medicines

Návrh rekonstrukce sekce vlastní spotřeby vn kotle K7, včetně příslušenství a návrhu obnovy transformátoru vlastní spotřeby vn/nn a jeho vývodového pole

Import 20/04/2006Prezenční výpůjčkaVŠB - Technická univerzita Ostrava. Fakulta elektrotechniky a informatiky. Katedra (451) elektroenergetik