Articles Related to OPU

Introduction: Tanzania aims for 95% of persons living with HIV (PLHIV) to know their serostatus by 2023. Methods: An uncontrolled before-after study design was conducted between March 2018 (pre-intervention phase) and July 2018 (post-intervention phase). A total of 183 participants (males=89; females=94) were recruited for this study. Data were collected at baseline and at the one-month and three-month follow-ups using a pre-and post-test semi-structured questionnaire. Descriptive data are presented using measures of central tendency and their respective measures of dispersion. No comparative statistical analysis was performed.

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This study aimed at assessing variability among morphometric traits, deducing components that describe these traits and predicting bodyweight from both original and orthogonal traits using regression models. Bodyweight and fifteen morpho- metric traits namely height-at-whither (HW), body-length (BL), chest-depth (CD), chest-girth (CD), rump-length (RL), rump-height (RH), pelvic-width (PW), shoulder-width (SW), head-width (HdW), head-lengthHdL), cannon-bone-length (CBL), cannon-bone-circumference (CBC), ear-length (EL), horn-length (HL), tail-length (TL), and tail-circumference (TC) were recorded on 600 extensively managed and randomly selected adult sheep.

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Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease that affects patients’ lung function and thus exercise tolerance. Elderly patients have shown to have more severe and long-term symptoms after contracting COVID-19. Limited evidence has been published on the effectiveness of cardiopulmonary rehabilitation programme for elderly patients recovered from COVID-19. Therefore, the aim of this study was to launch and evaluate the effectiveness of a communitybased cardiopulmonary rehabilitation programme.

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This study is an attempt to emphasize the prevalence of severe anemia in pediatric age group and characterize different clinical and Hematological findings among them. Anemia is a major global health problem, especially in developing countries like India, despite the fact that this problem is largely preventable & easily treatable. It leads to morbidity and mortality in children and establish a public health problem of substantial importance.

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Diabetic macular edema (DME) has become one of the most potential complications that results in loss of vision in patients with diabetic retinopathy. Treatment outcomes that have been predicted directly with advent of machine learning (ML) methods after the initial anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) injection, has become extremely vital in the management of DME. Purpose: The aim of this study is to analyze the efficiency of the ML regression models which were developed and validated to predict the possible post-injection central subfield thickness (CST) value and distant vision best corrected visual acuity (DV BCVA) in eyes with DME before the anti-VEGF injection is administered at either treatment initiation or during treatment monitoring. Methods: This retrospective study was conducted in Medical Research Foundation, Chennai, India from January 2010 to December 2020. The model development emphasized on an ensemble ML system consisting of four ML models that were developed and trained independently using the clinical parameters to predict the post injection CST value. The dataset consisting of 906 patients with total of 1874 samples [Optical coherence tomography (OCT) images and clinical parameters] were divided into trained and test set, and the model was validated on test dataset. The predicted CST values was then compared against the respective sample’s post injection actual CST value. The comparative results were measured in terms of Correlation Coefficient and Mean Absolute Relative Error (MARE). Results: On evaluation, we found that Support Vector Regression (SVR) with linear kernel performed best among the other models with four different scenarios in term of both CST and DVBCVA prediction with correlation coefficient of 0.65, 0.73, 0.75, 0.85 and 0.83, 0.87, 0.89 and 0.92 respectively.

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Introduction: Obesity is a multifactorial condition influenced by environment and genetic factors. Controlling appetite and satiety involves complex interactions between the hypothalamus, which is responsible for homeostasis regulation energy, and hormones that regulate appetite including leptin and ghrelin. Leptin plays an important role in the regulation of food intake and energy expenditure, generating an increase in energy burning and decreasing food intake. And ghrelin is directly involved in the regulation of short-term energy balance. Objectives: To verify frequency, biochemical profile and Body Mass Index (BMI) variations according to SNPs in LEPR and GHRL gene. Subjects and Methods: 163 both genders subjects were classified into Study Group (SG): 103 subjects with obesity; Control Group (CG): 60 non-obese. Blood samples were collected to perform DNA extraction and biochemical profile analysis. Statistical significance was established at p < 0.05. Results: The genotype and allele frequency were similar between groups for both polymorphisms. The _/A genotype of the GHRL rs696217 polymorphism was associated to increased BMI in SG compared CG (p = 0.003) and increased triglycerides (TG) and very low density lipoprotein (VLDLc) values in CG (p < 0, 05). The _/A genotype was also associated with increased fasting glucose compared to CC genotype only in CG (p = 0.031). Considering the LEPR rs1137101 polymorphism, AA genotype subjects presented higher BMI compared to _/G genotype subjects (p = 0.024). No difference between biochemical profile variables related to LEPR rs1137101 polymorphism was found. Conclusion: AA genotypes of the LEPR rs1137101 polymorphism and _/A of the GHRL rs696217 polymorphism suggest being risk factors for BMI and the latter is associated with fasting glucose, VLDLc and TG variation.

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Introduction: Knowledge and use of the male condom is not uncommon. This study sought to fill this gap by exploring Female Condom knowledge, attitude, acceptance and use in a sample of population to inform intervention measures aimed at increasing the acceptability and usage of the Female Condom taking into cognizance its safety and effectiveness. Method Study: A cross-sectional survey conducted between May and July 2019, was used to explore knowledge, attitudes and practices on the female condom targeting Congolese population at Brazzaville, Republic of Congo. To allow the participants to respond to the questionnaire at a time comfortable to him/her. Results: Seven hundred and twenty questionnaires were administered and 567 questionnaires were included in the final analysis giving a response rate of 81%. In total, 277 men and 290 women aged 14 to 63 participated in the study. Among the participants who have already seen the female condom, 80 have already used it, i.e. 21.3%. Of the 80 individuals who reported ever using a female condom, 43 (53.7%) used the female condom with a usual partner and 17 (21.3%) used it with a new partner. Concerning factors contributing to low usage of the female condom, the majority either had difficulty installing (26.3%); great difficulty in fitting (17.5%); the use of the female condom was simply uncomfortable (25%). Discussion: Our study population included 68.3% of participants with higher education, which explains the fact that there is (93.8%) has heard talk about the female condom and among them 66.3% have already seen the female condom. Only 66.3% of people have ever seen a female condom, on the other hand very few people have used it. The majority of people had difficulty using the female condom, including difficulty in inserting the female condom. Difficulties related to the female condom insertion were reported by the majority of the respondents. Conclusion: This study revealed critical gaps in knowledge, condom use, and negotiation skills and highlights the unmet need for interventions to further educate and empower women with and without HIV to prevent spread of HIV in this high-prevalence, high-risk population.

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To evaluate the prevalence of dental anomalies in the individuals with cleft lip and palate as well as to assess the incidence of differences among unilateral cleft lip and palate and bilateral cleft lip and palate subjects in terms of dental anomalies and sexual dimorphism.

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To explore the disorders in the hematological index among normotensive, prehypertensive and hypertensive patients and help detect the predictive and preventive factors of hypertension-related complications. A comparative cross-sectional study was conducted from January to December 2018 on a total of 3000 study participants classified as hypertensive (HTN, blood pressure ≥140/90 mmHg), prehypertensive (PHTN, blood pressure =120-139/80-89 mmHg), and normotensive (NTN, blood pressure <120/80 mmHg) with 1000 participants in each group. Cross tabulation and Chi-square tests were used for categorical variables. The Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U-test were used to compare the difference between groups.

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Morocco applied the Goals testing model, projecting alternative testing scale-up scenarios, varying coverage targets for 13 adult populations. The model was calibrated using program service delivery, spending and surveillance data (2015-2019), integrated bio-behavioural surveys, and national HIV estimates. It projects annual diagnoses by target group from undiagnosed prevalence and testing coverage, allowing for HIV-infected people self-selecting for testing, retesting and transitions between groups. Scenarios were evaluated for knowledge status improvement and cost, focusing on 2023-2025.

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The evaluation of the environmental risk of antibiotics and their byproducts is an important topic around the world viewing the increase of use of antibiotics and the absence of conventional water treatment plants. The objective of the study is to determine the consumption of antibiotics and evaluate their potential health hazard as contaminants of the Lebanese surface waters. Data of 704 antibiotics consumed in 2019 were provided by the Ministry of Public Health (MOPH).

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Due to the high variability characteristics of liposome products and the influence of particle size on the distribution, tissue targeting behavior and clinical efficacy of liposomes, population bioequivalence (PBE) statistical method was selected to evaluate the consistency of particle size distribution of liposomes continuously prepared by microfluidic chip technology.

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To study the prevalence, clinico-pathological profile and survival outcome of oral squamous cell carcinoma in young patients (<40 years).

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Cardiac arrest is a leading cause of death in USA, nearly 90% of them fatal and Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest (OHCA) is a leading cause of death worldwide. The Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR), especially if administered immediately after cardiac arrest, can double or triple a person’s chance of survival. CPR by training persons increases the frequency the survival rate. Therefore, we aim to look into the common pitfalls that both medical students and genior physicians face in the recognition and dealing Compression in Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation with its outcome.

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The main objective of the present work was to study the population trend of the Seychelles scale, Icerya seychellarum (Westwood) (Hemiptera: Monophlebidae) on guava trees at Abu-Suwair district in Ismailia Governorate, Egypt during two consecutive years (2018-19). The results showed that insect population was recorded on guava trees all the year round and has three peaks of seasonal activity per year i.e., June, August/September and November.

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