W Indian Med J
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To evaluate whether there is any effect of different local anaesthetic agents on hearing loss after spinal anaesthesia. ⋯ Fifteen milligrammes of isobaric bupivacaine and levobupivacaine had no significant difference on the effect of hearing loss after spinal anaesthesia. Hearing loss after spinal anaesthesia has many unknown issues, and deserves to be explored by performing many studies.
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African-Caribbean men, particularly Jamaican men, have one of the highest incidences of prostate cancer in the world. This cross-sectional study was conducted to investigate knowledge, attitudes, practices and factors associated with prostate cancer screening among men in western Jamaica. ⋯ A substantial proportion of Jamaican men ≥ 40 years had never been screened for prostate cancer. Interventions should be instituted to make prostate cancer screening readily available and to promote active participation of men in these programmes especially men ≥ 70 years, men with less economic resources, and men who do not routinely visit a physician or health facility.
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There is a claim in folklore medicine in Nigeria that trona (a sesquicarbonate or hydrated carbonate of sodium) causes fetal loss. However, this has not been substantiated or refuted by any scientific evidence. ⋯ This study revealed that trona causes fetal loss. This is possibly via an oestrogen-dependent mechanism, and attributed to the chemical constituents of trona.
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The occurrence of osteopenia and osteoporosis is a major problem of ageing. For assessing the severity of bone loss, bone mineral density (BMD) measurement is the gold standard. Because of the limitations of BMD, use of simpler serum-based tests to classify osteoporosis/osteopenia patients is gaining interest. In this preliminary work, we aimed to discriminate between healthy individuals and osteoporosis/osteopenia patients through a simple serum-based equation. ⋯ The suggested equation is a simple model that obtains reasonable results in discriminating healthy individuals from patients with osteopenia/osteoporosis. More study is needed to reach an exact, conclusive statement about the potential clinical application of this equation in the assessment of bone loss severity.
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In humans, it has been suggested that low-level mean platelet volume (MPV) may be related to secondary thrombosis due to inflammation. For this reason, MPV can be used as a marker showing inflammation in the body. ⋯ The lower MPV level surrogates active and/or chronic inflammatory state in the body. Thus, MPV may be used as a negative acute-phase reactant in rheumatic diseases.