African health sciences
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African health sciences · Sep 2020
Adherence to drug therapy among hypertensive patients attending two district hospitals in Ghana.
A major drawback to the management of hypertension among patients is poor adherence to pharmacotherapy. Factors that influence non-adherence to antihypertensive drugs could vary, depending on the prevailing condition of patient and setting. Knowledge of adherence patterns and behavior of hypertensive patients to pharmacotherapy could improve health-directed policies towards hypertension management. ⋯ Good adherence to oral antihypertensive drugs was observed in this population despite uncontrolled hypertension in a number of the respondents. The three independent predictors of adherence to antihypertensive medications in this study were respondent's knowledge about hypertension, perception of severity of their condition and the amount of alcohol consumed in a day. Regular patient education and counseling by medical practitioners should be encouraged in these settings to improve patient adherence.
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African health sciences · Sep 2020
An evaluation of six-year Stenotrophomonas maltophilia infections in a university hospital.
Stenotrophomonas maltophilia is a Gram-negative bacillus and opportunistic emergent pathogen causing hospital-acquired infections (HAIs). Due to risk factors such as prolonged intensive care unit stay and invasive procedures, it has become one of the leading causes of HAIs. ⋯ The most important risk factors for S.maltophilia infection in patients are previous exposure to antibiotics, prolonged hospitalization and invasive procedures such as mechanic ventilation. Discharging patients as early as possible with the rational use of antibiotics may be effective in reducing S. maltophilia infections and resistance rates.
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African health sciences · Sep 2020
Epidemiology and survival analyses of 333 adult glioma patients from Eastern Algeria (2008-2016).
Gliomas are a relatively rare group of tumors with a poor prognosis. We aimed to describe and analyze the clinical characteristics and survival of patients with glioma tumors of Eastern Algeria. ⋯ Our sample was relatively young with a higher survival compared to others.
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African health sciences · Sep 2020
Vancomycin intermediate resistant Staphylococcus aureus in the nasal cavity of asymptomatic individuals: a potential public health challenge.
The potential of transmitting multidrug resistant Staphylococcus aureus from asymptomatic individuals to healthy individuals could constitute a great challenge to antimicrobial therapy. ⋯ The isolation of multi-drug and vancomycin intermediate resistant strains of S. aureus in high percentage, in this study, presents a great threat to clinicians and general populace. The vancomycin intermediate resistant S. aureus (VISA) in asymptomatic individuals could be a critical concern to the therapeutic dilemma to be added to the presence of multi-drug resistance. A more sustainable therapy must be in place to prevent its dissemination or the outbreak of its infection.
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African health sciences · Sep 2020
Determination of expression profile of p53 gene in different grades of breast cancer tissues by real time PCR.
Pakistan has a high incidence of breast cancer in Asia, where annually 16,232 deaths are reported. There are many exogenous and endogenous risk factors that affect the tumor suppressor genes and oncogenes. The p53 gene is a tumor suppressor gene and it has a role to protect the whole genome from external and internal stresses, which causes damages to the genome. ⋯ The abnormal expression of p53 shows that there are some genetic and epigenetic factors which are the primal cause of an abnormal gene expression. It is recommended that perform next generation sequencing (NGS) of the gene to find out the mutations causing the abnormal behavior of p53 gene.