Esophageal Surveillance Practices in Esophageal Atresia Patients: A Survey by the Eastern Pediatric Surgery Network

IntroductionEndoscopic surveillance guidelines for patients with repaired esophageal atresia (EA) rely primarily on expert opinion. Prior to embarking on a prospective EA surveillance registry, we sought to understand EA surveillance practices within the Eastern Pediatric Surgery Network (EPSN).MethodsAn anonymous, 23-question Qualtrics survey was emailed to 181 physicians (surgeons and gastroenterologists) at 19 member institutions. Likert scale questions gauged agreement with international EA surveillance guideline-derived statements. Multiple-choice questions assessed individual and institutional practices.ResultsThe response rate was 77%. Most respondents (80%) strongly agree or agree that EA surveillance endoscopy should follow a set schedule, while only 36% claimed to perform routine upper GI endoscopy regardless of symptoms. Many institutions (77%) have an aerodigestive clinic, even if some lack a multi-disciplinary EA team. Most physicians (72%) expressed strong interest in helping develop evidence-based guidelines.ConclusionsOur survey reveals physician agreement with current guidelines but weak adherence. Surveillance methods vary greatly, underscoring the lack of evidence-based data to guide EA care. Aerodigestive clinics may help implement surveillance schedules. Respondents support evidence-based protocols, which bodes well for care standardization. Results will inform the first multi-institutional EA databases in the United States (US), which will be essential for evidence-based care.Level of EvidenceThis is a prognosis study with level 4 evidence.     

Tedium vitae in stroke survivors: a comparative cross-sectional study

Objectives: Suicide is best studied by deconstructing the psychological experiences preceding suicidal death. We assessed the characteristics of tedium vitae (feeling tired of life) after first ever stroke in Nigerian survivors.

Methods: Using the Schedule for Clinical Assessment in Neuropsychiatry, tedium vitae was assessed in 130 stroke survivors attending rehabilitation in a large Nigerian university hospital. Global cognitive and executive dysfunctions were evaluated, respectively, using the Mini Mental State Examination and the modi?ed Indiana University Token test. All participants had their index stroke 3 to 24 months before recruitment into the study. We also examined a comparative group of 130 age, gender, and education matched apparently normal persons who were unrelated to the stroke survivors. Associations were explored using univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses.

Results: Tedium vitae was experienced by 16 (12.3%) stroke survivors compared with 5 (3.9%) in the comparative group (O. R = 3.5, 95% C. I = 1.3–9.9, p = 0.018). Among stroke survivors, those who were retired were more likely to experience tedium vitae (56.2%, p = 0.045). In analyses adjusting for the effect of systemic hypertension, cognitive dysfunction, retirement and marital separation, there was a 3.5-fold increase in the odds of experiencing tedium vitae after surviving a stroke (O. R = 3.5, 95% C. I = 1.1–11.6, p = 0.042).

Conclusions: Tedium vitae is a common suicidal experience after stroke and may be among the earliest perceptible pointer to impending poststroke suicide. It is easy to assess and may be less costly to obtain an adequate sample size in studies aiming to understand the phenomenon of suicide in the stroke population.     

Ebola Virus RNA Stability in Human Blood and Urine in West Africa’s Environmental Conditions

We evaluated RNA stability of Ebola virus in EDTA blood and urine samples collected from infected patients and stored in West Africa’s environmental conditions. In blood, RNA was stable for at least 18 days when initial cycle threshold values were <30, but in urine, RNA degradation occurred more quickly.     

South African abortion attitudes from 2007-2016: the roles of religiosity and attitudes toward sexuality and gender equality

ABSTRACT

Abortion is legal in South Africa, but negative abortion attitudes remain common and are poorly understood. We used nationally representative South African Social Attitudes Survey data to analyze abortion attitudes in the case of fetal anomaly and in the case of poverty from 2007 to 2016 (n = 20,711; ages = 16+). We measured correlations between abortion attitudes and these important predictors: religiosity, attitudes about premarital sex, attitudes about preferential hiring and promotion of women, and attitudes toward family gender roles. Abortion acceptability for poverty increased over time (b = 0.05, p < .001), but not for fetal anomaly (b = ?0.008, p = .284). Highly religious South Africans reported lower abortion acceptability in both cases (Odds Ratio (OR)_anomaly = 0.85, p = .015; OR_poverty = 0.84, p = .02). Premarital sex acceptability strongly and positively predicted abortion acceptability (OR_anomaly = 2.63, p < .001; OR_poverty = 2.46, p < .001). Attitudes about preferential hiring and promotion of women were not associated with abortion attitudes, but favorable attitudes about working mothers were positively associated with abortion acceptability for fetal anomaly ((OR_anomaly = 1.09, p = .01; OR_poverty = 1.02, p = .641)). Results suggest negative abortion attitudes remain common in South Africa and are closely tied to religiosity, traditional ideologies about sexuality, and gender role expectations about motherhood.     

‘When you visit a man you should prepare yourself’: male community care worker approaches to working with men living with HIV in Cape Town,South Africa

Caring is typically constructed as a feminised practice, resulting in women shouldering the burden of care-related work. Health-seeking behaviours are also constructed as feminine and men have poorer health outcomes globally. Employing men as carers may not only improve the health of the men they assist but also be transformative with regards to gendered constructions of caring. Using semi-structured interviews and observational home visits, this study explored the techniques that community care workers employ when working with male clients. The empirical analysis draws on the perspectives of eight care workers and three of their male clients from the Cape Town area. Interviews reveal how care workers and clients perform and negotiate masculinities as they navigate hegemonic masculine norms that require men to act tough, suppress emotions and deny weakness and sickness. Both parties bump up against ideals of what it means to be a man as they strive to provide care and receive support. Community care workers avoid rupturing client performances of hegemonic masculinities which inhibit confession and support. To do this, they use techniques of indirectly broaching sensitive subjects, acting in a friendly way and being clear about the intention of their work.     

Measurement of blood loss at childbirth and postpartum.

OBJECTIVE: To accurately measure blood loss during childbirth in a developing country. METHOD: The alkaline hematin technique was used to quantify blood lost during delivery and 24 h postpartum in 158 women in Pemba Island, Zanzibar. RESULT: Women were found to lose less blood during childbirth and 24 h postpartum than previously reported. Compared with laboratory values, nurse-midwives approximated blood loss accurately (mean difference, i.e., mean underestimation by nurse-midwives, 4.90 mL); however, their imprecision was greater for higher laboratory values. CONCLUSION: This study may prompt further investigation, as no comparable data exist for developing countries where maternal mortality is high and severe anemia prevalent.     

Parkinson's disease in Africa: A systematic review of epidemiologic and genetic studies.

Parkinson's disease (PD) occurs worldwide, but little is known about PD in Africa. We systematically reviewed publications on PD in Africa, with emphasis on epidemiologic and genetic studies. Articles published between 1944 and December 2004 were identified using several strategies. The studies emanated from 13 African countries (Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Senegal, Ghana, Togo, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Zimbabwe, and South Africa). The publications fell into four categories: clinical series (n = 17), prevalence studies (n = 7), incidence studies (n = 1), and genetic studies (n = 3). The clinical series documented the occurrence of PD in Africa and described its clinical characteristics. The prevalence studies suggested some intracontinental geographic variation in PD prevalence. Overall, the prevalence figures and the incidence rates of PD in Africa appeared lower than those reported for European and North American populations. Few genetic studies of PD have been reported from Africa, and none in blacks. There are no case-control or cohort studies of PD reported from Africa. This review provides a summary of PD research in Africa over the past 60 years and highlights the information gaps and potential areas for future research.     

Serologic evidence for human ehrlichiosis in Africa

Human ehrlichiosis is a recently recognized rickettsial disease. It is caused byEhrlichia chaffeensis, an intraleucocytic Gram-negative, obligate intracellular bacterium, grouped within the genusEhrlichiae. Most human cases of ehrlichiosis have been diagnosed in the USA. Two cases have been reported outside of the USA, one in Europe and one in Africa. From 1 January to 30 June 1992, 765 sera from blood donors or other asymptomatic subjects in 8 African countries, including Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Mali, Central African Republic, Angola, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Commores Islands, were tested by indirect immunofluorescence for the presence ofE. chaffeensis antibodies. Positive sera were confirmed by Western immunoblotting. Only two of 765 sera tested were positive. One serum obtained from Burkina Faso had an IgG titer of 1:200 and one from Mozambique had an IgG titer of 1:80. Human ehrlichiosis seems to occur infrequently in Africa, although many more sera from additional African countries need to be evaluated.     

Prevalence of elevated serum prostate-specific antigen in rural Nigeria

BACKGROUND: Recent hospital and cancer registry data show increasing prostate cancer incidence in Nigeria, which was previously regarded as a low incidence region. This study investigates the prevalence of prostate cancer risk in a previously unscreened cohort of rural Nigerians. METHODS: Rural Nigerian men, 40 years and older, were screened by serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) and digital rectal examination (DRE) and those with PSA >/= 4 ng/mL and/or abnormal DRE were referred for prostate biopsy. RESULTS: Of 200 consecutive men invited, 151 (75.5%) presented for screening, the mean age was 56.45 + 15.1 and 95 (61.6%) were >/= 50 years of age. Of the 140 who consented to a blood test, PSA correlated with age (r = 0.3, P < 0.01), 14 (10.0%) had abnormal PSA >/= 4 ng/mL, increasing from 3 (3.6%) in men < 60 years to 4 (50%) in men >/= 80 years. The rate was 13 (15.7%) for men >/= 50 years and there was no evidence of increased incidence of prostatitis in the community. Mean (median) PSA in ng/mL increased from 1.17 (0.60) in the youngest to 13.75 (4.45) in the oldest cohort. Of those who accepted DRE, 38 (29.0%) had an enlarged prostate, including two who had nodular prostate, one-third with symptoms, increasing from 4 (5.4%) in those < 50 years to 6 (75.0%) in men >/= 80 years. The proportion of men with PSA >/= 4 ng/mL among those with enlarged vs normal prostate is 27.0 to 3.4%, P < 0.001, and the pattern was similar for men >/= 60 years and those < 60 years of age. The 40 (32.0%) men referred for prostate biopsy defaulted mainly because they did not fully understand the need for further investigation because they were symptom free or afraid of the possible side-effects of the procedure or diagnosis of cancer. CONCLUSION: The proportion of men with PSA >/= 4 ng/mL is comparable to that of previously unscreened populations with high incidence of prostate cancer such as African-American men. A larger study is required to confirm these findings and intensify efforts to determine the prostate cancer detection rate by biopsy in this population. A prostate cancer awareness and education campaign will be useful in this community.