Coverage and Factors Associated with Cervical Cancer Screening: Results from a Population-Based WHO Steps Study in Ethiopia
Authors: Terefe Gelibo , Lizeth Roets , Theodros Getachew , Abebe Bekele
In Medicine and Health Sciences
Background: Cervix cancer is the most common cause of cancer deaths in Africa accounting for 10.4 deaths, which represents one in five of all cancer deaths in African women Munoz et al. Sub-Saharan Africa bears the highest global burden of this fatal yet entirely preventable disease. The problem is particularly severe in sub-Saharan Africa, where the age-adjusted incidence rate is 45 per 100,000 women with Ethiopia at 35.9 per 100,000 women. Data from the Addis Ababa population based cancer registry showed that breast and cervical cancers were the leading causes of cancer, comprising 22.6% and 10.8% respectively of all cases of cancers. Methods: Community-based Cross-sectional survey based on the World Health Organization (WHO) NCD Stepwise approach was done. The survey was conducted in the 9 regions and two city administrations (Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa) in Ethiopia. The target population for this survey included all men and 15-69 years old who consider Ethiopia to be their primary place of residence. A single population-proportion formula was used to determine the sample size design effect coefficient of 1.5, Z-score=1.96, proportion=35.2 and marginal error=0.04. A total of 513 EAs were covered nationwide. Thus, 5823 women were included in this study. A mix of sampling approach namely stratified, three-stage cluster sampling, simple random sampling and Kish method were employed to select the study settings and the study participants. Results: Cervical cancer screening rate in Ethiopia is extremely low (2.9%). When adjusted for demographic and residence confounders (age, location, income, education), cervical cancer screening is significantly associated with being at urban area (AOR=2.5, 95% CI: 1.1, 5.7), age 30-49 years (AOR=2.4, 95% CI: 1.2, 4.8), having annual household income of more than 30,000 ETB (AOR=7.1, 95% CI: 4.8, 10.4) and college and above level of education (OR=2.8, 95% CI: 1.1, 7.8). Conclusions: Cervical cancer screening rate in Ethiopia is extremely low as compared to the rates of other countries. This needs a mechanism to establish and strengthen the multi-sectoral response in general for the prevention and control of cervical cancer and increasing awareness of the community towards cervical cancer screening and strengthening the health system in particular.
Immunotherapy and General Medical Aid in Metastatic/Recurrent Mucous Membrane and Cervical Cancers
Authors: Igor Tsaur
In Medicine and Health Sciences
Despite advances within the treatment of medical specialty malignancies, each repeated mucosa and cervical cancers once not amenable to localised medical care (surgery or radiotherapy), stay incurable with restricted prognosis and effective treatment choices. Therapy remains the quality of take care of girls with pathological process mucosa or cervical cancers. The addition of bevacizumab to first-line therapy for pathological process cervical cancer patients represents a major breakthrough in up survival. Additional recently, therapy methods targeting the PD-1/-L1 pathway have shown clinical activity in each mucosa and cervical cancers. The accrued understanding of the biology of those cancers is shaping target-specific treatments. Here we have a tendency to summarise current treatment choices and results from clinical trials of therapy and different targeted therapies that have already modified, or have the potential to vary, clinical observe in metastatic/recurrent mucosa and cervical cancer.
Prevalence and Mortality Associated with Tuberculosis Among HIV-Infected Patients in High-Volume HIV Care Sites in Conakry
Authors: Niouma Nestor Leno , Foromo Guilavogui , Mohamed Diallo , Aboubacar Sidiki Magassouba , Youssouf Koita , Laye Kaba , Souleymane Chaloub , Andre Kamano , Alexandre Delamou , Alioune Camara
In Life Sciences, Medicine and Health Sciences
Introduction: The objective of this study was to estimate the prevalence of tuberculosis and to identify factors associated with its occurrence among HIV-infected patients on antiretroviral therapy. It also estimated the survival rate among HIV patients co-infected with TB and among HIV patients not co-infected with TB. Methods: In this study, two types of studies were used. An analytical cross-sectional study was used to estimate the prevalence of TB at the time of data collection or extraction among HIV-infected patients. A historical cohort study was used to analyze the survival of HIV patients on ART at different time points during their follow-up. We used Kaplan Meir survival analysis techniques to estimate the cumulative incidence of death among patients on antiretroviral therapy at different follow-up periods. We used multivariate logistic regression to identify associations significantly associated with the occurrence of TB in patients living with HIV. Results: The prevalence of tuberculosis among HIV-infected patients was 21.19%. The cumulative probability of death for patients on ART was 6.80%, or an incidence rate of 3.27 per 100 person-years. The advanced clinical stage of HIV infection at ART initiation, the low CD4 count at ART initiation, and the high viral load at ART initiation were statistically associated with the occurrence of TB in HIV-infected patients (all AOR > 1, p-value < 0.05). Conclusion: This study showed that the cumulative probability of death was higher in patients co-infected with HIV and TB than in those who were not. A mixed study (a prospective quantitative component and a qualitative component) could allow a better understanding of this phenomenon of tuberculosis occurrence among HIV-infected patients in Guinea.
The Evaluation of Oral Health in Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease – A Longitudinal Study
Authors: Mimoza Canga , Irene Malagnino , Edit Xhajanka , Rozela Xhemnica , Vergjini Mulo , Vito Antonio Malagnino
In Life Sciences, Medicine and Health Sciences
Background: Chronic kidney disease affects more than 10% of people globally. The aim of the study was to assess oral health in patients with chronic kidney disease. The sample was composed of 233 patients, of which 147 (63%) were males and 86 (37%) were females. Participants' age varied from 31 to 70 years old. We divided the participants into four age groups: 31-40, 41-50, 51-60, and 61-70 years old. Data were analyzed by using (IBM, New York, USA, SPSS Statistics for Windows), Version 23.0. The significance level (α) was set at 0.05, with a confidence interval (CI) of 95%. The prevailing age range was from 51 to 60 years old, with 31.8% of the participants. A considerable number of patients with chronic kidney disease had low incomes, respectively 42.4% of them. 80.7% of the patients were current smokers and 73.4% of them consumed alcohol. A large proportion of respondents 83.7% of them were diabetic patients. 63.1% of the participants reported that they had hypertension. According to our findings, 55.8% of the participants brush their teeth only once a day. The study found a strong correlation between chronic kidney disease and diabetes mellitus (CI 95; 1.17-1.33, P-value ˂.0001), hypertension (P ˂.0001), alcohol consumption (P=.001), and smoking (P =.000). Gingivitis was the most common oral disease which affected 73.4% of the participants, followed by 56.7% of them who had dental caries.
Performance of Cold Atmospheric Plasma in Reducing Airborne Particles and Carbon Dioxide Concentrations in Sports Facilities
Authors: Namwon Paik , Younghyo Park , Namkyung Kim , Yonghee Kim , Doyeon Kim , Hyunyoung Hong
According to a few reports recently published, cold atmospheric pressure plasma (CAP) is a state-of-the-art technique in the field of environmental science. Studies reported the performance of CAP in the removal of particulate matter (PM) and microorganisms, including fungi, bacteria, and viruses. The CAP also effectively removed the odor, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and numerous chemicals, including formaldehyde. However, studies on the control of PM and carbon dioxide (CO2) in sports facilities are limited. This study was conducted in two parts. In Part 1, the levels of indoor PM10, PM2.5, PM1.0, and CO2 were measured in two sports facilities, including a table tennis center and a fitness center, to determine the occupants’ exposure levels to the pollutants. In part 2, the performance of the CAP technique in the reduction of airborne concentrations of PM10 and CO2 was investigated. The PM10 concentrations were significantly higher in the fitness center than in the table tennis center. The concentration ratios of PM10, PM2.5, and PM1.0 to PM10 concentrations were 1.00, 0.95, and 0.81, respectively. The CO2 concentrations were significantly higher in table tennis centers where aerobic exercise was predominant. The performance of CAP on the removal of PM10 and CO2 was highly promising. The average reduction rates against PM10 and CO2 concentrations were 69% and 35%, respectively. Further studies on the performance of CAP against other pollutants, such as total volatile organic compounds and microorganisms in sports facilities are needed.
On An Illustrative Examples of a Studied Noetherity Dirac-Delta Extensions for a Noether Operator
Authors: Abdourahman , Ecclésiaste Tompé Weimbapou , Emmanuel Kengne , Shankishvili Lamara Dmitrievna
In Other, Mathematics
The purpose of this work is to illustrate by clear examples the noetherity nature of a finite Dirac-delta Extensions of a studied noether operator. Previously in our published papers, we have investigated in different two cases, the noetherization of a Dirac-delta extensions of a noether linear integro-differential operator defined by a third kind integral equation in some specific well chosen functional spaces. Our various already published researches were connected with such topic widely studied and clearly presenting different specific approaches, applied when establishing fundamentaly noether theory for some kind of integro-differential operators to reach the noetherization. The initial considered noether operator A has been extended with some finite dimensional spaces of Dirac-delta functions, and the noetherization of the two cases of extensions has been established depending with the parameters of the third kind integral equation defining A. The previous lead us to set the problem of the construction of practical examples clearly illustrating the relationship between theory and practise. For this aim, we based on an established wellknown noether theory and, we construct in this work step by step, two illustrative examples to show the interconnexion between the theory and pratise related to the investigation of the construction of noether theory for the considered extended noether operator denoted defined by a third kind linear singular integral equation in some generalized functional spaces. The extended operator A of the initial noether operator A is verified being also noether and therefore we deduce the index of the extended operator .
Quality Evaluation Method of Anchor Chain Flash Butt Welding Based on Deep Learning
Authors: Jiahe Gao , Haibo Wen , Shenao Zhu , Shihui Dong , Shijie Su , Jian Zhang
In Engineering, Other
Flash butt welding, a mainstream welding method employed in producing anchor chains, is a critical manufacturing process affecting the quality of anchor chains. Ultrasonic and load testing are used to evaluate the welding quality of anchor chains, but the cost of checking and replacing unqualified chain links is high. A deep learning-based quality evaluation method for flash butt welding is proposed to reduce the cost of detecting and replacing substandard chain links. First, displacement and current sensors collect electrode position and current signals during welding. Second, since the number of qualified anchor links is much larger than that of unqualified ones, a new data synthesis method is proposed: nearest-neighbor splicing sampling, which achieves the enhancement of minority samples by segmenting and combining existing data samples according to the features of anchor chain welding. Then, a piecewise linear interpolation method is used to handle the varying data length problem, thus satisfying the input requirements of the convolutional neural network (CNN). Finally, a CNN model is established, and dropout is used to reduce the over-fitting phenomenon. The experimental results show that the accuracy of the under-sampling method, over-sampling method, and nearest-neighbor splicing sampling method are 93.8%, 95.9%, and 96.3%, respectively, and the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of the CNN model are 95.7%, 93%, and 94.3%, respectively, which are better than those of the support vector machine (SVM).
A Cross-Sectional Assessment of Self-Medication Among University Students of Lahore, Pakistan
Authors: Muhammad Ans , Sameen Abbas , Anosh Sana , Mishal Bajwa , Kalsoom Jehan Khan , Waqas Abdul Aziz , Asima Bibi , Mujahid Hussain
In Medicine and Health Sciences
Background: Symptoms or ailments that a person is aware of and chooses to treat on their own are referred to as self-medication. The idea of self-medication has been influenced by awareness of individual responsibility for own health and unnecessary professional care for mild illnesses. Self-medication is common practice around the globe. Gradually, it is becoming a form of self-care. Lot of research has been done in the area and the result revealed that the self-medication is more common among the literate people as compared to the illiterate. Trend is rather prominent among the young population who tend to have more knowledge of drugs and their use, have lower risk perception, therefore are more influenced by self-medication. Objective: A cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the knowledge about self-medication among engineering, arts & humanities students in Lahore during a period of 7 months (December 2018-June 2019). Methodology: A self-administered questionnaire was designed after the extensive review of previous research and was reviewed by an expert panel of professors & lecturers of clinical pharmacy of Punjab University College of pharmacy. Human ethics committee of Punjab University College of Pharmacy, University of the Punjab approved the study protocol. A total sample of 1000 students were calculated by sample size calculator. All statistical analysis was done by SPSS version 23. Results: A total of 1000 questionnaire were received with overall response rate of 63%. In this study, younger age, male, and unmarried students residing in hostels and those who have access to nearby pharmacy tended to self-medicate more than their peers with significant difference. About 43.4% of respondents followed their doctor's advice, while about 37.2% took their own advice or that of friends, family members, or the media. Conclusion: Self-medication misuse or abuse can be dangerous and endanger lives; if practiced impulsively, it may also be a health issue that requires education and attention from Pakistan's health care authorities. Future research is also required to determine how self-medication affects Lahore and Pakistan's non-medical students' health.
Inferior Epigastric Artery a Boon in Accessory Lower Polar Artery Revascularization in Renal Transplantation
Authors: Kabilan Saminathan , Balaraman Velayutham , Muthu Veeramani
In Medicine and Health Sciences, Public Health
Multiple renal arteries occur unilaterally and bilaterally in 23% and 10% of the population, respectively. During renal transplantation failure to recognize and preserve an accessory renal artery may lead to ureteral necrosis, segmental renal infarction, postoperative hypertension, or calyceal fistula formation. The problem with accessory renal artery is prolonged ischemia and delayed graft function. Long ischemia can be avoided if lower polar accessory renal artery is anastomosed to inferior epigastric artery after de-clamping as soon as the main renal artery and venous anastomosis is done. Aim: In this study we report our experience with live donor renal transplantation with multiple arteries in which the lower polar artery was anastomosed to the inferior epigastric artery. This study describes the surgical technique and outcomes of live donor renal allografts with multiple arteries in which the lower polar artery was anastomosed to the inferior epigastric artery after de-clamping. Material & Methods: Between 2012 and 2020, 68 consecutive live donor renal transplants were performed involving single Urology-Nephrology team. This included 48 with single and 20 with multiple arteries. Anastomosis of the lower polar artery to the inferior epigastric artery was used for 8 grafts with multiple arteries. Results: Successful revascularization of all areas of the transplanted graft was confirmed by Doppler ultrasonography in most patients and radionuclide renal scanning + MRA in some patients. Conclusions: In live donor renal transplantation with multiple arteries; the anastomosis of the lower polar artery to the inferior epigastric artery after de-clamping, avoids prolongation of the ischemia time that occur with other surgical techniques.