African health sciences
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African health sciences · Dec 2020
Improved antimalarial activity of caprol-based nanostructured lipid carriers encapsulating artemether-lumefantrine for oral administration.
Artemether and lumefantrine display low aqueous solubility leading to poor release profile; hence the need for the use of lipid-based systems to improve their oral bioavailability so as to improve their therapeutic efficacy. ⋯ This study has shown the potential of caprol-based NLCs for significant improvement in oral bioavailability and hence antimalarial activity of poorly soluble artemether and lumefantrine. Importantly, this would improve patient compliance due to decrease in dosing frequency as a sustained release formulation.
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African health sciences · Dec 2020
Modelling CD4 counts before and after HAART for HIV infected patients in KwaZulu-Natal South Africa.
This study aims to make use of a longitudinal data modelling approach to analyze data on the number of CD4+cell counts measured repeatedly in HIV-1 Subtype C infected women enrolled in the Acute Infection Study of the Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa. ⋯ Effective HAART initiation immediately after HIV exposure is necessary to suppress the increase of viral loads to induce potential ART benefits that accrue over time. The data showed evidence of strong individual-specific effects on the evolution of CD4+ counts. Effective monitoring and modelling of disease biomarkers are essential to help inform methods that can be put in place to suppress viral loads for maximum ART benefits that can be accrued over time at an individual level.
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African health sciences · Dec 2020
Effects of body weight and posture on pulmonary functions in asthmatic children.
Asthma is one of the most common chronic illnesses in the world. Pulmonary function tests are important tools in monitoring of asthmatic patients. There is need for investigating if spirometric indices were affected by body weight or posture or not. ⋯ There was no effect of weight on standing spirometric data. Weight showed significant negative correlation with asthma control level. We concluded that in overweight/obese asthmatic children, spirometric position might affect the results.
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African health sciences · Dec 2020
Investigation of high-resolution computed tomographic (HRCT) outcomes associated with chronic pulmonary microaspiration (CPM) in Tehran and Zahedan, Iran.
In patients with chronic pulmonary microaspiration (CPM) the recognition of high-resolution computed tomographic (HRCT) findings and their pattern is important. ⋯ Our data showed the most common findings in HRCT were bronchial thickening ground-glass opacity, emphysema, and bronchiectasis, where these findings was dominantly found in LLL, RLL, RUL, and LUL, indicating its high tendency to dependent areas.