BMC research notes
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Access to sufficient food is essential for household welfare as well as for accomplishing other development activities. Households with insufficient access to food often face other challenges related to food insecurity including poor health and a decline in productivity. These challenges can often create a vicious circle whereby households are unable to produce enough food even during a good crop season. Thus, this study aimed to determine the magnitude of food insecurity and its determinants in rural households of Farta District, Northwest Ethiopia. ⋯ This study revealed that most households of the district were food insecure. Hence, the promotion of contraceptive use, off-farm employment activities and the development of small scale irrigation are important recommendations to reduce food insecurity.
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Limited clinician involvement in smartphone application development poses problems considering the extensive use of smartphones among medical professionals and patients. ⋯ This method may help clinicians develop simple web-apps and increase clinician involvement in smartphone content.
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Case Reports
Resolution of a fungal mycotic aneurysm after a contaminated steroid injection: a case report.
In the past ten years there have been three separate outbreaks of fungal contaminated steroid injections from compounding pharmacies. The 2012 outbreak of central nervous system fungal infections associated with contaminated methylprednisolone produced by a United States compounding pharmacy has led to 750 infections (151 with meningitis and paraspinal infections and 325 cases with paraspinal infections without meningitis) and 64 deaths as of October 23, 2013. Exserohilum rostratum has been the predominant pathogen identified by culture, polymerase chain reaction or antibody tests. According to previous reports, cerebral involvement with phaeohyphomycosis has a high risk of morbidity and mortality. ⋯ This is the rare case report of successful medical management of a cerebral mycotic aneurysm with stroke symptoms related to a presumed phaeohyphomycosis in an immunocompetent individual. Further studies are needed to determine the utility of cerebrospinal fluid (1, 3) beta-D-glucan in diagnosing and monitoring patients with meningitis thought to be related to fungal infection.
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Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a common and a serious complication among patients admitted to intensive care units (ICUs), and has been the focus of many studies leading to recent advances in diagnosis and classification. The incidence and outcome of AKI in Sri Lankan ICUs is largely unknown. The aim of this study was to describe the incidence, severity and outcome of AKI among patients admitted to the medical ICU, National Hospital, Colombo, Sri Lanka (NHSL). ⋯ The incidence of AKI is high at 60% among our ICU patients, and those with AKI had higher mortality and longer duration of ICU stay. Age, gender or the presence of co-morbidities was not associated with a higher risk of AKI. Patients with SOFA scores over 9 within the first 24 hours were more likely to develop AKI and had higher risk of death.
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Cardiopulmonary arrest in pregnancy has a very high maternal and fetal mortality rate. We report a case of successful maternal and neonatal survival in association with emergency cesarean section of a schizophrenic pregnant patient. To our knowledge, this is the first reported case of cardiopulmonary arrest in a pregnant woman with schizophrenia. ⋯ We speculate that the cause of cardiopulmonary arrest was aspiration due to seizure, and it is possible that a neurological response was evoked by administration of antipsychotic drugs and/or by eclampsia. Medical staff must be aware of the possibility of cardiopulmonary arrest in pregnant women with schizophrenia.