Recent Articles

The study of the access to and utilisation of Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health (ASRH) services among secondary school adolescents in, Mityana district was carried out in various schools in Ssekanyonyi sub-county. The study aimed to determine the prevalence of the ASRH burden, assess the utilisation of ASRH services in these schools and identify drivers/barriers to the utilisation of ASRH services among adolescents in secondary schools in Mityana district.

A search was performed through electronic databases; PubMed, EMBASE searched via ScienceDirect and Cochrane Library. Reference lists were limited to English papers ranging from 2012 to 2018. Eligibility criteria were defined by considering the (PICOS) question patients who received OMIs for orthodontic anchorage. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were performed independently by two authors.

Squamous cell carcinoma of the gallbladder is rarely reported, comprises less than 1% of all gall bladder cancer and portends a worse prognosis than the more common adenocarcinoma. We report a 80-year-old female who presented with acute onset epigastric pain. She was operated on based on a presumptive diagnosis of acute on top of chronic cholecystitis with cholelithiasis according to clinical and ultrasonographic findings. Histopathological examination of the thickened wall of the gallbladder revealed well to moderately differentiated keratinized squamous cell carcinoma invading full wall thickness and infiltrating the liver. Further examinations revealed no other primary site for the tumour. Gallbladder cancer should be considered as part of the differential diagnosis in elderly patients presenting with cholecystitis.

Finding an environmental-friend and an affordable method to remove contaminated soils from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) is now an attractive field for researchers. PAHs are slightly soluble, thus hardly dissolve in organic compounds, and also biological and chemical degradation processes are not effective to remove them, and the process of extracting these pollutants from soil is a complex process. Super-critical fluid extraction is an innovative process in the field of contaminated soil treatment. Extraction with super-critical fluid is a simple and rapid extraction process which uses supercritical fluids as solvents. This method addresses extraction methods using supercritical and subcritical fluid. The results showed that the supercritical fluid process is very suitable to remove the pollutants such as PHCs, PAHs, PCBs, dioxins, Furans, phenols, Chlorophenols, insecticides, metals and radioactive substances. The supercritical fluid extraction using CO2 also has the ability to effectively eliminate organic and inorganic compounds present in different contaminated soils. Moreover, this method is more economical for polluted soil treatment compared to other available methods. On the other hand, using this method that uses water is environment-friendly and has lower cost and a higher safety level. Research has also shown that pressurized hot water extraction (SWE) is a better way to extract PAHs. In this method, the extraction process can be improved by combining the SWE process with the oxidation process by adding oxidants such as air, oxygen, hydrogen peroxide, etc.

Climate change is the statistical distribution changes of weather patterns when that change lasts for a long period. This paper aims to review economic wide effect of climate change on transportation assets. Climate change economically affects transportation by increasing maintenance, operation, rehabilitation, and repairmen costs of transportation infrastructure. Climate changes can also increase the cost of new transportation infrastructure due to higher climate adaptable design standards. It also accelerates infrastructure replacement costs. In addition to damage to transportation infrastructures, climate change can also indirectly cause loss of infrastructure service and activity disruption. Climate change also causes bring down travel times, higher cost choice required to address operational needs and accumulating yield for shipment when transport courses allow.

The effect of alcohol consumption on overall cancer incidence is not clear. The aim of the paper is to estimate the impact of alcohol consumption on risk distribution of the 20 most common cancer types among men and women in the Western world. A meta-analysis of relative risks for the 20 most common cancer types potentially associated with alcohol consumption in the Western world was conducted based on the most recent cancer specific meta-analyses. Cancer risks were compared between men and women applying a sigmoidal dose response model. Drinking 2.5-14.9 g alcohol/day was associated with a small decrease in overall cancer incidence: 0.977 for men and 0.974 for women; followed by a small increase in the 15-29.9 g/day category: 1.029 for men and 1.077 for women. Further increases were observed in the 30-60 g/day category indicating a 5 and 10% increase in overall cancer risk for men and women, respectively. Women appeared to be more sensitive: the alcohol consumption level to acquire overall risk increase is 22 g/day for women and 46 g/day for men.

A 14 day broiler chickens feeding trial was conducted to determine bio-availability and relative biological values (RBV) of phosphorus in raw and acidulated local rock phosphates (RPs) as potential replacements for imported and more expensive di-calcium phosphate (DCP). Treatments included Raw, Sulphuric acid and Phosphoric acid acidulated Sinda and Chilembwe RPs. Bio-availability was assessed based on feed intake, body weight gains, feed conversion ratios, phosphorus retention and mineralization of tibia bones and blood serum. RBVs were calculated on the same parameters using DCP as a reference standard. Phosphorus contents in local RPs were significantly (P ≥ 0.05) lower than in DCP, but acidulating RPs with Phosphoric acid significantly increased phosphorus, but reduced calcium contents. Other minerals were comparable with what was in DCP. Acidulating RPs significantly (P ≥ 0.05) increased body weight gains and feed conversion ratios, but not feed intake. Phosphorus retentions, weights and ash contents of tibia bones were significantly (P ≥ 0.05) lower in chickens fed diets based on raw than that of those fed diets based on acidulated RPs and DCP; an indication that acidulating the RPs improved phosphorus bio-availability in broiler chickens. There were however; no statistical differences (P ≥ 0.05) among treatments in calcium and phosphorus contents in both tibia bones and blood serum.

Synthetic marijuana compounds are more potent than ∆9-tetrahydrocannabinol (∆9-THC) and are known to produce a wide variety of clinical symptoms including cardiac toxicity, seizures, and death. Erratic driving by a 45 y/o male was witnessed in the fall of 2017 and roadside evaluation of the driver by the responding law enforcement officer concluded that the driver was intoxicated. Comprehensive analysis of the cigarettes by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry detected the synthetic cannabinoid 5-fluoro-ADB (5F-ADB or 5F-MDMB-PINACA). Validated forensic liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) methods were used to detect the 5-fluoro ADB metabolite 7 (26.37 ng/mL) in the driver’s blood sample. No other drugs were detected. This case report is one of the first to conclusively show that designer synthetic cannabinoids, commonly referred to as “K2” and “Spice”, can significantly impair driving at relatively low concentrations.

MicroscopyStevens-Johnson syndrome/toxic epidermal necrolysis (SJS/TEN) is a disease continuum of potentially life threatening, severe allergic drug reactions which result in cellular apoptosis in the skin, mucous membranes, and ocular surface. The exact pathophysiologic mechanisms leading to this apoptosis is unclear but genetic predisposition and abnormal immune regulations play a role.

Adrenal incidentalomas (AIs) are frequent and although most of them are asymptomatic and benign, some do need treatment. The AIs follow-up has to be as sharp as to avoid missing pathology and to avoid harm and anxiety induced by the follow-up itself. It is, thus, a delicate medical condition for endocrinologists worldwide.

Leisure time physical activity has a broad spectrum of health benefits. The objective of this study was to provide evidence and to support the association between physical activity and body weight. We used data from a probability sample of 8,128 individuals residing in Montreal (Canada). Multinomial multivariate logistic regression was used to determine the association between physical activity and body weight. Results showed no statistical association between physical activity and underweight. However, physical activity was associated with overweight, namely individuals doing less physical activity were significantly more likely to be overweight (OR=1.42; 95%CI=1.18- 1.69) than those performing intense physical activity. Additionally, the association between physical activity and obesity showed a negative incremental relationship, i.e. individuals reporting moderate physical activity were 29% more likely to be obese (OR=1.29; 95%CI=1.07- 1.55), and those reporting low physical activity were 123% more likely to be obese (OR=2.23; 95%CI=1.80-2.76) compared to intense physical activity status. Leisure time physical activity and overweight/obesity were significantly associated after accounting for several socioeconomic, lifestyle and health-related correlates. Due to the broader positive impact of physical activity on the health status of the individual, we advise health authorities to facilitate the propagation of healthy lifestyle in the community by adopting a health-creation policy in addition to the conventional disease-prevention strategy

Irrational antibiotic use has led society to antibiotic resistance, a serious health problem worldwide. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of antibiotics self-medication among university medical students in Tripoli city.

Chronic urticaria is a common condition but its etiology can sometimes be serious. A variety of causes has been reported to induce urticaria, like food, infections, drugs or environmental factors. Although an association between chronic urticarial and malignancy has been occasionally reported, such association remains controversial because it’s difficult to demonstrate it’s not just coincidental. However, various cancers have been described in connection with this skin pathology such as thyroid, pulmonary or renal carcinoma. In all of these cases, treatment of the tumor led to prompt resolution of the urticarial lesions, thus suggesting a pathogenetic relationship between the two. We report the case of a man treated for several months without success for chronic urticaria whose treatment of the recurrence of his prostate cancer has removed the skin lesions.

Solitary bone plasmacytomas account for approximately 5% of plasma cell malignancies. These lesions are recognized as pre-malignant, if untreated, at least 50% will progress to multiple myeloma within 5 years of diagnosis. We present a case of a 54 year old male patient whom presented to our unit complaining of progressive axial backache complicated by acute onset paraplegia of 8 hours duration. Neurological examination revealed an incomplete L1 sensory level and no motor function of his lower limbs which had power 0/5 in all dermatomes (Frankel B).

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a chronic, disabling hypokinetic movement disorder with a broad spectrum of symptomatology including motor and non-motor complaints. Since non-motor symptoms of the disease such as musculoskeletal pain including shoulder pain is often underestimated, and is prone to occur during the course of the disease, as well as the prodromal phase of PD, it is important to keep in mind that shoulder pain may be a foot step of an evolving PD, and may need further investigation in terms of PD.

Isolated extrapontine myelinolysis is an uncommon form of osmotic demyelination syndrome (ODS) in paediatric age group. We describe a child with primary adrenocortical insufficiency manifesting as cyclical vomiting syndrome, which in turn has complicated in the form of extrapontine myelinolysis manifesting as reversible acute parkinsonism.

A sixty-year-old woman with no remarkable systemic disease came to our clinic due to blurred vision of right eye for one month. The best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) was 0.2 in the right eye, while intraocular pressure, anterior segment, and optic disc of right eye were all normal. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) was arranged, which showed VMT in right eye.

Nonspecific chronic vulvovaginites (NCVV) are a frequent clinical sign of immune deficiency, especially in young girls. The established problems with the functioning of various parts of the immune system (IS) in this pathology dictate the need to include immunomodulatory therapy into the complex. The developed program of combined immunotherapy for immunocompromised girls allows reducing the severity and duration of exacerbation of NCVV, their frequency against the background of a significant reduction in ARVI incidence. Positive clinical effects were observed with underlying restoration in IS functioning. A protective effect was obtained (observation in a catamnesis for 1 year): the duration of a clinically safe period increased from 6 to 11-11.5 months per year.

Bioavailability in different formulations of desvenlafaxine100 mg prolonged-release tablets was compared in two bioequivalence studies, one under fasting conditions and the other after a standard breakfast. Both studies were a single dose, randomized, open-label, two-period crossover, with Brazilian male and female healthy subjects. Blood samples were taken during 48 h and plasmatic concentrations were determined using a validated UPLC-MS/MS method.