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Background: AngioJetTM rheolytic thrombectomy has been used in the treatment of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) to prevent post-thrombotic syndrome. Though not widely appreciated, it has the potential to cause intravascular haemolysis. Report: A 37 year old man with no previous medical history presented to his GP with a three week history of progressive right upper limb swelling. Doppler imaging confirmed right upper limb DVT and CT scan demonstrated thoracic outlet syndrome. The patient underwent AngioJetTM thrombectomy followed by IV heparin infusion. Successful revascularisation of the occluded vein was achieved. Overnight he developed haematuria, which was initially attributed to IV heparin. Urinalysis however revealed no red cells or casts. Apart from an Hb drop from 134 to 117 his blood profile and blood film showed no abnormality. He subsequently developed progressive oliguria with marked oedema and acute kidney injury (AKI). His creatinine peaked at 1070umol/l at 96 hours post procedure and he was started on intermittent dialysis. He remained dialysis dependent for 6 days. Ultrasound imaging excluded urinary obstruction. Autoimmune and vasculitic serology were negative. Intravascular haemolysis and haemoglobinuria was confirmed by raised LDH (1714u/L) and low haptoglobin (<0.1units). Direct Coomb’s test, Cold agglutinin test and paroxysmal nocturnal haemoglobinuria screen were negative. The patient’s renal function normalised over 3 months. Conclusions: The likely cause of this man’s AKI is heme pigment nephropathy from intra-vascular haemolysis. Increased awareness of this condition may allow early identification and intervention to reduce the risk of renal injury from AngioJetTM associated haemolysis.

Artocarpus (Moraceae) is a deciduous tree with appreciable importance as a source of edible fruit and is widely used in folk medicines. The extracts and metabolites of Artocarpus heterophyllus particularly those from leaves, bark, stem and fruit possess several useful bioactive compounds. This review indents to compile various studies on A. heterophyllus and critically evaluates its ethnomedical and ethnopharmacological properties. Several pharmacological studies from A. heterophyllus have conclusively established their mode of action in anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antioxidant and anticancer activities. Based on the available data, it is concluded that Artocarpus as a promising source of useful products and opens up new avenues for novel therapeutics.

Currently, the emergence of highly virulent mutants in Europe and the United States has caused refractory recurrent Clostridium difficile infection (RCDI) to be a problem in clinical practice. In 2013, the Netherland group demonstrated breakthrough therapeutic efficacy in fecal microbial transplant (FMT) treatment clinical trials for RCDI, and FMT treatment is rapidly gaining attention. In addition to RCDI, FMT treatment has been attempted in various gastrointestinal diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease, irritable bowel syndrome and chronic constipation, as well as extragastrointestinal diseases. In this review, I would like to describe the current status, complications and prospects of FMT treatment.

Aim of this work is to analyze the coronavirus viral surface properties related the pattern of electrical features. This chemical physical property is relevant and crucial to set profile of diffusion, severity of disease, efficacy of therapeutic strategy and in order to search new way to fight COVID-19 and the NEW VARIANT. The phenomena of immune evasion and the different pattern of efficacy towards variants of some vaccine or some antibodies combination produce the need to verify if considering the electrical feature of viral surface can be a right tool or not. As result of this research it is possible to submit to the scientist that the viral surface properties and electrical feature can be an element to be considered in various preventive or treatment measure. The specificity of action of some vaccine or antibodies seem to tell us that also the aspecific methods are useful. A specific chemico physical factors can influence the electrical charges viral surface behavior. Hpertonic saline solution, humidity, electrical charge barrier in mask are simply example of the effect. That can be obtained action on viral surface chemico -physical properties.

It is difficult to predict how the founder of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, would react to an attempt to link his theory and the method of treating mental disorders based on it [1], with such a purely physical disease as acute pneumonia (AP). It is unlikely that such an innovation could cause full approval and support. However, in this context, we are not talking about psychoanalysis as a therapeutic method for AP. In this case, only the diagnostic features of this technique are of interest

A 42 years old gentleman who was a known case of Psoriasis vulgaris since last 5 years presented to the Rheumatology clinic with inflammatory arthritis predominantly involving the joints of the upper extremities. Musculoskeletal examination of both hands revealed dactylitis and distal interphalangeal joint arthritis. He had a shortened right ring finger with excessive transverse skin folding suggestive of an Opera-Glass hand

A 79 years old woman presented with one-day history of pain, redness, pain and swelling without discharge in her left ear, later her right ear started with the same symptoms as in her contralateral ear spreading around the scalp and the forehead (Figure 1), she denied fever, or other constitutional symptoms. 

A 58-year-old hypertensive man presented to our insti-tution with acute chest pain and dizziness. Electrocardiogram revealed inferior wall myocardial infarction with suspected right ventricular involvement (Figure 1A). Computed tomographic aortography (CTA) depicted ascending aortic dissection (AAD) with involvement of bilateral carotid, subclavian, and right common iliac arteries (Figure 1B). Replacements of aortic valve and ascending aorta with CABG (Ao-RSVG1-LAD and Ao-RSVG2-RCA) were conducted. 

Treatments via the minor papilla is effective where the deep cannulation via the major papilla is impossible in such cases as [1] the Wirsung’s duct is inflammatory narrowed, bent or obstructed by impacted stones [2] pancreatic duct divisum (complete or incomplete) [3], maljunction of pancreatico-biliary union with stones [4], pancreatic stones in the Santorini’s duct. In [1,2] cases, the pancreatic juice flow via the major papilla decreases, while that of the minor papilla increases. Then the size of minor papilla and its orifice shows corresponding enlargement. This substitutional mechanism is an advantage when undertaking our new method. Since the pancreatic juice flow is maintained via the minor papilla in these cases, accurate and careful endoscopic skills are necessary to prevent pancreatitis due to the occlusion of the Santorini’s duct after this procedure. We have experienced 135 cases treated via minor papilla in these 27 years, so we would like to report about its safety and efficacy.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate biological dose in single-field optimization (SFO) and multi-field optimization (MFO) intensity-modulated proton therapy (IMPT) plans for brain tumor patients that used a fixed relative biological effectiveness (FRBE) and those that used a variable RBE (VRBE). Materials and methods: SFO and MFO IMPT plans were planned by the Varian Eclipse treatment planning system for three brain tumor patients. Dose and linear energy transfer (LET) distributions for each plan were recomputed using an in-house fast Monte Carlo dose calculator system, and then biological dose distributions were calculated with a FRBE of 1.1 or with a previously published VRBE model. We then compared biological dose distributions obtained by the VRBE with those obtained by the FRBE. Results: Doses obtained by the VRBE for the gross tumor volume and clinical target volume in all plans were 1%-2% larger than those obtained by the FRBE. The minimum dose obtained by the VRBE for the brainstem in the SFO IMPT of one patient was 140% larger than that obtained by the FRBE, but the difference was only 5.3 cGy (RBE). The difference in maximum dose for the optic chiasm in the MFO IMPT of another patient was less than 3.2%, but the dose difference was 149.2 cGy (RBE). We also found that no major differences were seen between the biological dose differences in the SFO IMPT plans and those in the MFO IMPT plans. Conclusion: We could observe biological dose differences between the FRBE and the VRBE in the SFO and the MFO IMPT plans for brain tumor patients.

This study was aimed at producing a high nutritious food that will meet the nutritional requirements of consumers. Blends of malted red sorghum and defatted soybeans flour were processed and the resulting flours were formulated at ratios of 100:00; 95:5; 90:10 and 80:20 (malted red sorghum: defatted soybeans flour). The resulting products were subjected to antinutrients and minerals properties determination. The results obtained showed that the antinutrients decreased linearly with increase in the mineral elements. Antinutrients in the blends decreased from 2.25-1.80mg/g (oxalate); 2.45-2.16mg/g (phytate); 14.16-9.26g/100g (Alkaloids); 2.12-1.69/100g (saponin) and 0.18-0.13mg/g (Tannin). A percentage increase of 12.6% (sodium); 10.8% (calcium); 9.5% (potassium); 3.7% (magnesium) and 14.1% (Iron) was recorded as the quantity of defatted soybeans flour increased in the blends. The low levels of antinutrients in the blends produced make them safe and suitable for human consumption. Substitution of malted red sorghum with 20% defatted soybean flour showed a remarkable improvement in the mineral contents of the diets

This study was carried out to evaluate the effect of pretreatments and drying methods on the chemical quality and microbial density of wild edible oyster mushroom. The mushroom samples were pretreated by steeping in 0.5% citric and sodium metabisulphite at room temperature for 10 minutes before being subjected to sun and cabinet drying until a constant weight was reached. The dried samples including the control samples (Samples not pretreated with chemicals) were evaluated for proximate, mineral composition and microbial density. The proximate analysis (protein, ash, fat, moisture and fibre) showed that untreated mushroom samples (both sun and cabinet dried) had the overall best results followed by samples pretreated with 0.5% sodium metabisulphite while samples pretreated with 0.5% citric acid had the lowest values. The mineral analysis (calcium, sodium, magnesium and potassium) of the mushroom samples followed the same trend as the proximate analysis. The microbial density of the samples showed that samples pretreated with 0.5% citric acid had the lowest count followed by samples pretreated with 0.5% sodium metabisulphite while the untreated samples had the highest microbial density. This implies that pretreatment with citric acid and sodium metabisulphite reduced the microbial density which may invariably extend the storage life of the edible oyster mushroom.

Noodles are strips or strands cut from a sheet of dough made from flour, water and either common salt or a mixture of alkaline salt. Noodles consumption represents about 40% of the total wheat flour which are mainly consumed by school children. The use of composite flour has been encouraged since it reduces the importation of wheat. Utilization of locally available, inexpensive materials like cocoyam that can substitute a part of wheat flour without adversely affecting the acceptability of the product will be a product development. This study therefore studied the chemical composition and organoleptic properties of instant noodles from the blend of wheat and cocoyam starch. Cocoyam starch was substituted into wheat flour at 20, 40, 60 & 80%. Analysis revealed higher carbohydrate (63.50-70.05)%, moisture (4.54-5.07)% and vitamin A (10.01-30.47) mg/100g, B1 (11.43-32.15) mg/100g but lower protein (4.56-8.79)%, phosphorus (0.34-0.52)%, calcium (1.83-0.98)%, iron (0.15-0.32) % and ash (1.19-3.20)%. The composite noodles revealed higher carbohydrate and mineral but lower protein than the commercial noodles. The sensory analysis revealed that 20% cocoyam compared favourably with the commercial noodles in terms of all the sensory attributes evaluated. This shows the possibility of producing noodles from cocoyam tubers which serves as novel food. This will further help to promote and improve utilization of cocoyam tuber.

Tea (Black tea and Green tea) are one of the most widely consumed beverages in the world. However, with the increasing interest in the health properties of tea and a significant rise in scientific investigation, this review covers some of the recent findings on the health benefits of both green and black tea. The mechanisms of action of various black and green tea components have been presented. Green tea contains a unique set of catechins that responsible for its biological activity potentially relevant to the prevention of diseases. Although there has been much focus on the biological property of the major tea catechins, black tea offers major health benefits either due to the presence of the catechins in epimerized form or some other active components of both varieties of tea. Characteristics unrelated to the antioxidant properties of green and black tea might also be responsible for their therapeutic potential in preventing diseases. Synergistic effect of the tea constituents is increasingly recognized as being potentially important to the medicinal benefits of black and green tea. The studies indicate that tea has the potential of being a part of diet for healthy living.

Earlier in our laboratory, the role of various individual sperm impairing microorganisms on sperm parameters and female infertility has been elucidated at higher doses. As, multiple bacterial species tend to exert more pathogenic effect in comparison to single organism hence, present study was carried out to evaluate that if consortia of these sperm impairing organisms can lead to infertility in female mice at sub fertility dose. For this, impact of individual bacterial strains of Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumoniae and consortia of Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae was examined on the motility, viability of mouse spermatozoa and fertility outcome. The results showed that the individual bacterial strains of E. coli, S. marcescens and K. pneumoniae could led to immobilization of spermatozoa by agglutination and P. aeruginosa led to immobilization of spermatozoa without agglutination. Also, all of them led to 100% sperm death in 45 min of incubation. In case of consortia of bacterial strains, the results showed sperm agglutination in all the cases and they were able to induce 100% sperm death at 30 min of incubation time. Further, in vivo studies were carried out to evaluate the impact of individual bacterial strains and consortia of bacterial strains on the fertility outcome in female Balb/c mice. For this, female mice were administered intravaginally with 101 cfu/20µl of individual bacterial strains or consortia of strains for 10 consecutive days or PBS. The results showed that both individual bacterial strains and consortia of bacterial strains were able to efficiently colonize the mouse vagina. Further, control group receiving phosphate buffer saline and groups receiving individual bacterial strains showed all the pregnancy related changes viz. abdominal distension, string of pearls on palpation as well as delivery of pups on completion of gestation period and delivery of pups. The histological examination of reproductive organs viz. uterus and ovary, of the female mice receiving PBS or individual bacterial strains showed the formation of corpus luteum in the ovary and the formation of decidua’s in the uterus, indicative of pregnancy. However, mice receiving consortia of bacterial strains did not show any pregnancy related changes throughout the experiment. Thus, these results indicate that the presence of consortia of sperm impairing microorganisms in vaginal milieu is efficient in provoking infertility even at subfertility doses.

Objective: This preliminary study focused on the description of some dysfunctional perceptions of the body image and eating habits in a sample of young. Methods: The results obtained by 55 amateur and professional volleyball players belonging to volleyball sports clubs located in the province of Reggio Emilia were examined. The age of the sample is in a range between 11 and 44 years. The participants completed the Pisa Survey for Eating Disorders (PSED), a questionnaire aimed at examining eating behavior and the perception of one’s body image. The athletes’ height and body weight were subsequently detected through direct measurement. Conclusion: The data collected through the self-evaluation questionnaire and the measurements carried out by the study made it possible to analyze the perception of the body image and the eating habits of the volleyball players belonging to the sample and to compare them with the data in the literature. The data, albeit preliminary, allow us to confirm the existence of the discrepancy between the real body image and the desired one, in a group of young athletes, who favors the adoption of non-adaptive coping strategies to control one’s own weight and body shapes typical of the vicious circle - strict diet, bingeing episodes, compensatory behaviors - which characterizes eating disorders (ED). It is therefore considered essential that body image assessment is a practice implemented in the assessment routine of these athletes, especially in consideration of the fact that body image disturbance is a very common feature in this category and is one of the main risk factors of EDs.

Background: Obstetric fistula is a condition that results from obstructed labour, which occurs when the baby cannot pass through the mother’s birth canal because it either does not come head first or is too large for her pelvis. Prompt medical intervention, often including Caesarean section, permits a safe delivery for both mother and child. Despite this possibility, yearly, thousands of women across the country receive no such aid and their labour is a futile agony lasting between three and five days, with uterine contractions constantly forcing the baby, usually head first, against the organs of the pelvic and unyielding pelvic bone resulting in Vesico Vaginal Fistula (VVF). The main thrust of this study was to examine how health system factors affect health seeking behaviour of women with obstetric fistula in Akwa Ibom and Ebonyi States, Nigeria. Methods: Qualitative and descriptive research approaches were adopted for the study and a total sample of two hundred and sixteen (216) respondents comprising of one hundred and fifty (150) post fistula repair operative patients and sixty six (66) health workers were purposively selected using simple random techniques. The data were analyzed using thematic analysis and tables of frequency. Results: The respondents views showed that availability of treatment centre and quality of health care services influenced health seeking behaviour of women with obstetric fistula in Nigeria. Conclusion: The study indicated that health seeking behaviour of women with obstetric fistula is a major challenge in Nigeria. Establishment and proper equipment of obstetric fistula treatment centres as well as subsidization of the cost of treatment to allow women with this health problem to access health care services are strongly recommended. Therefore, government at all level and non-governmental organizations need to educate the women and create awareness on the causes and dangers of VVF.

Introduction: It is estimated that more than 200 million girls and women alive today have undergone female genital mutilation. Female genital mutilation still remains to be a serious problem for large proportion of women in most sub-Saharan Africa countries including Sudan, with a high prevalence of 88%. Objective: The main objective was to identify the factors associated with FGM among daughters of reproductive aged woman. Materials and methods: A community based cross-sectional study was conducted on 200 mothers, the total sample was collected in ACTH based on the number of reproductive age mothers with at least one daughter older than 5 years. A structured and interviewer administered questionnaire was used to collect data. The data obtained was analyzed by the use of the SPSS software. Results: Out of 200 mothers, 113 (56.5%) had at least one circumcised daughter. Knowledge about genital mutilation (AOR = 4.29, 95% CI: 1.13-15.37), attitude (AOR = 48.53, 95% CI: 14.45-198.69) and mothers circumcision status (AOR = 14.03, 95% CI: 2.81- 95.45) were the most significantly associated with FGM. Furthermore, having good knowledge, positive attitude, high socio-economic status, being literate, being of Christian religion and living in urban area had lower odds of having a circumcised daughter. Conclusion: In this study, more than half of the mothers had at least one circumcised daughter. Mothers’ knowledge, attitude, circumcision status, socio-economic status, age, residence, educational level and religion were significantly associated with female genital mutilation.

Objectives: We analyzed the indications of cesarean section (CS) using Robson Ten-Group. Classification Systems (RTGCS) and comparison between private and public health facilities in Addis Abeba hospitals, Ethiopia, 2017. Methods: Facility-based retrospective cross-sectional study was carried out between January 1 and December 31, 2017, including 2411 mothers who delivered by CS were classified using the RTGCS. Data were entered into SPSS version 20 for cleaning and analyzing. Binary logistic regression and AOR with 95% CI were used to assess the determinants of the CS. Results: The overall CS rate was 41% (34.8% and 66.8% in public & private respectively, p < .0001). The leading contributors for CS rate in the private were Robson groups 5,1,2,3 whereas in the public 5,1,3,2 on descending order. Robson group 1 (nulliparous, cephalic, term, spontaneous labor) and group 3 [Multiparous (excluding previous cesarean section), singleton, cephalic, ≥ 37 weeks’ gestation& spontaneous labor], the CS rate was over two-fold higher in the private than the public sector. Women in Robson groups 1, 2, 5 & 9 are two and more times higher for the absolute contribution of CS in private than public. The top medical indications of CS were non-reassuring fetal status (NRFS, 39.1%) and repeat CS for previous CS scars (39.4%) in public and private respectively. Mothers who delivered by CS in private with history of previous CS scar (AOR 2.9, 95% CI 1.4-6.2), clinical indications of maternal request (AOR 7.7, 95% CI 2.1-27.98) and pregnancy-induced hypertension (AOR 4.2, 95% CI 1.6-10.7), induced labor (AOR 2.5, 95% CI 1.4-4.6) and pre-labored (AOR 2.2, 95% CI 1.6-3.0) were more likely to undergo CS than in public hospital. Conclusion: The prevalence of CS was found to be high, and was significantly higher in private hospitals than in a public hospital. Having CS scar [having previous CS scar, Robson group 5(Previous CS, singleton, cephalic, ≥ 37 weeks’ gestation) and an indication of repeat CS for previous CS scar] is the likely factor that increased the CS rate in private when compared within the public hospital. Recommendation: It is important that efforts to reduce the overall CS rate should focus on reducing the primary CS, encouraging vaginal birth after CS (VBAC). Policies should be directed at the private sector where CS indication seems not to be driven by medical reasons solely. 

Rhabdomyosarcoma is a soft tissue pediatric sarcoma composed of cells which show morphological, immunohistochemical and ultrastructural evidence of skeletal muscle differentiation. To date four major subtypes have been recognized: embryonal, alveolar, spindle cell/sclerosing and pleomorphic. All these subtypes are defined, at least in part, by the presence of rhabdomyoblasts, i.e. cells with variable shape, densely eosinophilic cytoplasm with occasional cytoplasmic cross-striations and eccentric round nuclei. It must be remembered, however, that several benign and malignant pediatric tumours other than rhabdomyosarcoma may exhibit rhabdomyoblaststic and skeletal muscle differentiation. This review focuses on the most common malignant pediatric neoplasm that may exhibit rhabdomyoblastic differentiation, with an emphasis on the most important clinicopathological and differential diagnostic considerations.