Plos One
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Injury accounts for more than 5.8 million deaths globally with an increasing burden in the developing world. In Kenya, trauma is one of the top 10 leading causes of death. However, no formal continuous injury surveillance systems are in place to inform injury prevention, pre-hospital care or emergency department management. The aim of this study was to implement a hospital-based trauma registry to characterize high acuity injuries presenting to a private tertiary, teaching and referral hospital in Kenya. ⋯ Injured patients in Kenya showed concordance with prior studies looking at injury prevalence in the developing world when looking at demographics and place of injury. However, differences were found when looking at the mechanism of injury, with falls surpassing road traffic incidents. A delayed presentation to the hospital was also noted in this patient population. Given the rate of traumatic injuries in Kenya and their contribution to morbidity, mortality and overall healthcare costs, there is a need to implement formal trauma registries in all major hospitals in Kenya to generate more data that can be used to improve injury prevention, the overall trauma system and enhance training and preparedness.
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Decreased muscle strength is not only a risk factor for hip fracture in older patients, but plays a role in recovery of physical function. Our aim was to assess the role of grip strength measured early after hip fracture, and classified according to the EWGSOP2 criteria in predicting short- and long-term functional recovery. One hundred ninety-one patients with acute hip fracture consecutively admitted to an orthopaedic hospital have been selected. ⋯ Multivariate regression analysis adjusted for age and gender revealed that hand grip weakness was an independent predictor of worse functional outcome at 3 and 6 months after hip fracture for both genders and in all age populations. Our study supports the prognostic role of hand grip strength assessed at hospital admission in patients with hip fracture. Thus, clinicians should be encouraged to include hand grip assessment in their evaluation of hip fracture patients in the acute setting in order to optimize treatment of high-risk individuals.
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Acute abdominal pain (colic) is the most common reason for emergency veterinary treatment in the horse. Consolidation of data through a systematic review is important to inform evidence-based medicine and clinical guidelines, but there are currently no published systematic reviews on colic in the horse. The aim of this study was to identify, categorize and appraise the evidence on factors associated with increased risk of developing abdominal pain (colic) due to gastrointestinal disease in the adult horse. ⋯ It provides a comprehensive review that will be a key resource for researchers, veterinary practitioners and horse owners. It identified modifiable risk factors associated with an increased risk of colic which should be a key target for preventative health programmes. The findings from the critical appraisal were used to develop recommendations for future research to improve the quality of evidence-based veterinary medicine.
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In Korea, several household humidifier disinfectants (HDs) were clinically confirmed to cause HD-associated lung injury (HDLI). Polyhexamethylene guanidine (PHMG) phosphate is the main ingredient of the HDs found to be associated with lung disease. However, the association of HDs with other interstitial lung disease including idiopathic interstitial pneumonia (IIP) is not clear. We examined the relationship between HD exposure and IIP in a family-based study. ⋯ The use of household HDs is associated not only with HDLI but also with other IIP.
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Recently we have witnessed a number of rapid shifts toward populism in the rhetoric and policies of major political parties, as exemplified in the 2016 Brexit Referendum, 2016 US Election, and 2017 UK General Election. Our perspective here is to focus on understanding the underlying societal processes behind these recent political shifts. We use novel methods to study social dynamics behind the 2016 Presidential election. ⋯ While the Alt-right group was growing exponentially, it has remained relatively isolated. Counter to the mainstream view, we detected an unexpectedly low number of automated 'bot' accounts and accounts associated with foreign intervention in the Trump-supporting group. Our work demonstrates a powerful method for tracking the evolution of societal groups and reveals complex social processes behind political changes.