Communication skills of physicians during patient interaction in an in-patient setting at Tikur Anbessa Specialized Teaching Hospital (TASH), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 2009

Background: Physician-patient relationship is foremost among the numerous qualities needed for sound patient care. In the Ethiopian clinical setting, a vast majority of patients complain that physicians do not interact with them properly. Objective: Assess behavior of physicians (verbal and nonverbal) when interacting with patients. Methods: Randomly selected physicians were observed in doctor-patient interactions in an inpatient setting using a standardized check list at Tikur Anbessa Hospital in November, 2009.Mean comparison of total scores of each category as well as mean interaction and biomedical exam times were made using Pearson’s Chi square, and Student’s T test. Results: 211 interactions were observed. 22.7% were consultants, 49.7% were residents and 26.5% were interns. Mean total score of observed behavior ranged from poor to satisfactory across category and showed statistically significant variations. Average interaction time was 7.87 minutes while average biomedical exam time was 5.05 minutes. The means showed a significant variation (p=0.001 at 95% CI). Conclusion: The study has shown that there is a reasonable ground to suggest that physician-patient interaction has deficiencies. Due attention should be given to improve communication skills of physicians

X-ray film reject rate analysis at eight selected government hospitals in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 2010

Background: Improper practices in radiography that lead to possible repeating of procedures predispose patients for additional cost, more waiting time, and excess dose of ionizing radiation, leading to various dose dependent and dose independent health problems including cancer. In the face of such problems and the scarcity of resources, improvingthe quality and efficiency of radiology services is imperative.Objective: The purpose of this research was to identify the main causes of film faults as well as the pattern and magnitude of film rejection.Methods: Using a prospective cross-sectional hospital based approach; eight public hospitals were selected in Addis Ababa through convenience sampling. Adult and pediatrics radiographs with film faults were reviewed using a standardized checklist of common causes of reject. The collected data were then entered into a database for analysis using descriptive statistics.Results: Reject rate was calculated in eight governmental hospitals across all plain film examinations. The overall reject rate was 374 (3.1 %) in 12,165 x-ray exposures. Total reject rate by hospital showed 10.5% for Zewditu and 1.53% and 1.87% for Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital (TASH) and the Police Hospital, respectively.Conclusions: Rejected films were found to have been caused by numerous factors including poor technical judgment, patient motion, and poor supervision of staff. Hence, strategies need to be developed within medical imaging departments to improve the situation.[Ethiop. J. Health Dev. 2012;26(1):54-59

Imaging findings and management of paediatric pulmonary hydatidiosis in an Ethiopian Referral Hospital

No Abstrac

Using Two Compatible Donor Polymers Boosts the Efficiency of Ternary Organic Solar Cells to 17.7%

The use of ternary organic semiconducting blends is recognized as an effective strategy to boost the performance of polymer solar cells (PSCs) by increasing the photocurrent while minimizing voltage losses. Yet, the scarcity of suitable donors with a deep highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) level poses a challenge in extending this strategy to ternary systems based on two polymers. Here, we address this challenge by the synthesis of a new donor polymer (PM7-Si), which is akin to the well-known PM6 but has a deeper HOMO level. PM7-Si is utilized as the third component to enhance the performance of the best-in-class binary system of PM6:BTP-eC9, leading to simultaneous improvements in the efficiency (17.7%), open-circuit voltage (0.864 V), and fill factor (77.6%). These decisively enhanced features are attributed to the efficient carrier transport, improved stacking order, and morphology. Our results highlight the use of two polymer donors as a promising strategy toward high-performance ternary PSCs

Over 18% ternary polymer solar cells enabled by a terpolymer as the third component

“Ternary blending” and “random terpolymerization” strategies have both proven effective for enhancing the performance of organic solar cells (OSCs). However, reports on the combination of the two strategies remain rare. Here, a terpolymer PM6-Si30 was constructed by inserting chlorine and alkylsilyl-substituted benzodithiophene (BDT) unit (0.3 equivalent) into the state-of-the-art polymer PM6. The terpolymer exhibitsadeep highest-occupied-molecular-orbital energy and good miscibility with both PM6 and BTP-eC9 (C9) and enables its use as a third component into PM6:PM6-Si30:C9 bulk-heterojunction for OSCs. The resulting cells exhibit maximum power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 18.27%, which is higher than that obtained for the optimized control binary PM6:C9-based OSC (17.38%). The enhanced performance of the PM6:PM6-Si30:C9 cells is attributed to improved charge transport, favorable molecular arrangement, reduced energy loss and suppressed bimolecular recombination. The work demonstrates the potential of random terpolymer as a third component in OSCs and highlights a new strategy for the construction of a ternary system with improved photovoltaic performance

On the Conformation of Dimeric Acceptors and Their Polymer Solar Cells with Efficiency over 18 %

The determination of molecular conformations of oligomeric acceptors (OAs) and their impact on molecular packing are crucial for understanding the photovoltaic performance of their resulting polymer solar cells (PSCs) but have not been well studied yet. Herein, we synthesized two dimeric acceptor materials, DIBP3F-Se and DIBP3F-S, which bridged two segments of Y6-derivatives by selenophene and thiophene, respectively. Theoretical simulation and experimental 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopic studies prove that both dimers exhibit O-shaped conformations other than S- or U-shaped counter-ones. Notably, this O-shaped conformation is likely governed by a distinctive “conformational lock” mechanism, arising from the intensified intramolecular π–π interactions among their two terminal groups within the dimers. PSCs based on DIBP3F-Se deliver a maximum efficiency of 18.09 %, outperforming DIBP3F-S-based cells (16.11 %) and ranking among the highest efficiencies for OA-based PSCs. This work demonstrates a facile method to obtain OA conformations and highlights the potential of dimeric acceptors for high-performance PSCs

Cystic Fibrosis in an Adolescent: A “Miranda Warning” Against Blaming TB—A Case-Based Scholarly Update

Amanuel Yegnanew Adela,1– 3 Assefa Getachew Kebede,1 Daniel Zewdneh,4 Mahlet Kifle,1 Adriano Basso Dias5 1Radiology Department, Body Imaging Unit, Tikur Anbessa Comprehensive Specialized Referral and Teaching Hospital (TASH), Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; 2Radiology Department, Gondar University Comprehensive Specialized Referral and Teaching Hospital, College of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Gondar, Gondar, Amhara Regional State, Ethiopia; 3Radiology Department, Ethiopian Federal Police Commission Referral Hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; 4Radiology Department, Pediatric Radiology Unit, Tikur Anbessa Comprehensive Specialized Referral and Teaching Hospital (TASH), Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; 5Department of Medical Imaging, University Medical Imaging Toronto, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, CanadaCorrespondence: Amanuel Yegnanew Adela, Tel +251-918-26-1611, Email [email protected]; [email protected]: Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a multisystem disorder that occurs as a result of autosomal recessive congenital transmission of CF transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene mutation on chromosome 7. Because it is considered a disease of the Caucasian pediatric population or due to lack of awareness, it is rarely considered in developing countries like ours. This case report presents the first case of cystic fibrosis ever reported in Ethiopia and possibly East Africa, that of a 17-year-old female diagnosed with the disease following a CT scan of her abdomen and chest. She was initially misdiagnosed and treated for tuberculosis (TB) as she was a chronic cougher. Perhaps due to epidemiological evidence, there is an obstinate tendency of blaming tuberculosis (TB) for almost every case of chronic cough with fibro-bronchiectatic lung parenchymal changes in Ethiopia. Once a diagnosis of TB is posted on such patients, their diagnosis remains in the circle of TB reinfection, relapse or resistance, followed by multiple phases of anti-mycobacterial drugs. This could lead to hazardous implications, including unnecessary prolonged anti-mycobacterial treatments, possibility of developing drug resistance, and mismanagement-related patient morbidity. This patient’s chest and abdominal CT findings, including bronchiectasis, hepatic steatosis, pancreatic lipomatosis, micro-gallbladder and proximal colonic wall thickening, led to the diagnosis of CF. This article, presenting the first documented case of CF in the region, is meant to be a helpful reminder for clinicians and radiologists to also consider presumably “rare” illnesses like CF rather than blaming TB for every chronic cough and highlights the importance of abdominal CT features in the diagnosis of CF.Keywords: bronchiectasis, cystic fibrosis, CFTR, hepatic steatosis, micro-gallbladder, pancreatic lipomatosis, colonic wall thickening, Ethiopi

Comparative study on the effects of alkylsilyl and alkylthio side chains on the performance of fullerene and non-fullerene polymer solar cells

Two novel high gap donor polymers – PBDTTSi-TzBI and PBDTTS-TzBI, based on imide-fused benzotriazole (TzBI) with asymmetric side chains and alkylsilyl (Si) or alkylthio (S) substituted 4,8-di(thien-2-yl)benzo-[1,2-b:4,5-b′]dithiophene (BDTT) – are successfully synthesized. The effect of the side chain variation on the photophysical, morphological and photovoltaic properties of blends of these polymers with fullerene and non-fullerene acceptors is investigated. The PBDTTSi-TzBI polymer shows a deeper highest occupied molecular orbital energy level, which results in higher open-circuit voltages. Nevertheless, the polymer solar cells fabricated using PBDTTS-TzBI in combination with PC71BM afford a higher power conversion efficiency of 7.3% (vs 4.0% for PBDTTSi-TzBI:PC71BM). By using the non-fullerene acceptor ITIC, the absorption of the blends extends to 850 nm and better device efficiencies are achieved, 6.9% and 9.6% for PBDTTSi-TzBI:ITIC and BDTTS-TzBI:ITIC, respectively. The better performance of the PBDTTS-TzBI:ITIC-based devices is attributed to the strong and broad absorption and balanced charge transport, and is among the best performances reported for non-fullerene solar cells based on TzBI-containing polymer donors

Ladder-type high gap conjugated polymers based on indacenodithieno[3,2-b]thiophene and bithiazole for organic photovoltaics

\ua9 2019 Elsevier B.V. Two push-pull type conjugated polymers - PIDTT−BTz and PIDTT−DTBTz, based on the ladder-type donor unit indacenodithieno[3,2-b]thiophene (IDTT) and bithiazole (BTz) as acceptor component - are designed and synthesized for photovoltaic applications. The polymers exhibit relatively high optical gaps of ~2.0 eV with strong absorption in the range of 400–600 nm, rendering them of particular interest for the harvesting of indoor light and/or multijunction devices. Electrochemical investigations indicate a lower highest occupied molecular orbital energy level (−5.44 eV) for PIDTT−BTz as compared to PIDTT−DTBTz (−5.36 eV), enabling to achieve a higher open-circuit voltage. Under solar illumination, the best power conversion efficiency (5.1%) is achieved for the combination PIDTT−DTBTz:PC71BM (compared to 4.6% for PIDTT−BTz:PC71BM)