The forgotten tenth: AIDS in the older generation

While nearly ten percent of diagnosed cases of AIDS occur in people 50 years old and older, there has been little attention given to this group in the areas of prevention, education, psychosocial support, or treatment because HIV/AIDS is thought to be the disease of the young and sexually active. Evidence points to many infected older people contracting the disease through homosexual contact. Also, older people are often finding themselves dating again due to divorce or being widowed, and engaging in sexual activity without protection. Elderly people presenting with confusion or altered mental status or having severe bouts of pneumonia may first be evaluated for other possibilities before HIV is considered. HIV should be considered in the initial assessment in diagnosis when older patients are having more serious opportunistic-type infections in order to begin HIV treatment as early as possible. Statistics of AIDS cases by age at diagnosis reported through June 1997 are presented.     

Frequency of isolation of Staphylococcus lugdunensis in consecutive urine cultures and relationship to urinary tract infection

Recent reports associate Staphylococcus lugdunensis with severe infection in humans. The frequency of this microorganism in urine cultures is unknown. Five hundred isolates of coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS) were recovered from 4,652 consecutive urine specimens submitted for culture to the Mayo Clinic Microbiology Laboratory. Thirty-one (6%) of 500 isolates of CoNS were identified as S. lugdunensis. In no case was S. lugdunensis isolated in pure culture; 29 (94%) of 31 S. lugdunensis isolates were part of mixed nonpathogenic flora. Medical records were reviewed for 30 of the 31 patients from whom these 31 isolates were isolated. Twenty-one (70%) of the 30 evaluable patients were not treated with antibiotics; the remaining 9 (30%) of 30 patients were treated with antibiotics that may be effective against S. lugdunensis. S. lugdunensis may be an unrecognized yet infrequent cause of urinary tract infection.     

Self-reported safety practices and associated factors among employees of Dashen brewery share company,Gondar, Ethiopia: a cross-sectional study

Background

According to International Labor Organization (ILO), occupational accidents and work-related diseases are the causes for millions of deaths of workers every year. In addition, many millions of workers suffer non-fatal injuries and illnesses. This research was conceived with aim to assess safety practices and associated factors among employees of Dashen brewery Share Company, Ethiopia.

Method

Institutionalbased cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the level of self-reported safety practice and associated factors from February to March 2016, among Dashen brewery workers. Stratified sampling method was employed to select 415 study participants and the data was collected by using structured interview-administer questionnaire. Observational checklist was also used to ascertain the response given by interviewee.

Results

Fourhundred 15 respondent were involved in this study. Of those individuals, almost three fourth (74.2%) of the participants were male and 43.4% of participants were single. Mean (SD) age of respondents were 28.18 (±8.67) years and half of the respondents (49.9%) were diploma holders. The finding of this study indicated that 87.2% of the respondents reported complying with good safety practice. Age, marital status, employment status, attitude, safety and health training, and management support were found to be main predictors for safety practices.

Conclusion

The level of self-reported safety practice in this study was good. Management commitment on safety and training of the employees about safety and health is very important and should be provided regularly.

     

The economic impact of HIV/AIDS morbidity and mortality on households in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

The present study investigates whether the household-level economic impact of an adult AIDS death is different from that of death from another cause. The data come from cross-sectional post-mortem interviews (verbal autopsies) with relatives or primary caregivers of deceased adults randomly selected from deaths recorded in an ongoing burial surveillance in Addis Ababa. Our analyses consist of three parts. First, we assess the sociodemographic risk factors for AIDS mortality. Subsequently, we reverse the causal order of this relationship and carry out an analysis of the effect of AIDS mortality on the subjective experience of change in the household's financial situation following the death of a household member. Finally, we quantify the direct and indirect costs of illness and death on the household. Results indicate that households experiencing an HIV/AIDS death are poorer than those experiencing a non-HIV/AIDS death. In addition, poorer households experience a greater decline in socioeconomic status following death of a household member. AIDS mortality has more detrimental effects on the household economic status than deaths due to other causes. While the difference between AIDS and non-AIDS mortality in terms of direct costs is minimal, the indirect cost of an AIDS death per household exceeds that of non-AIDS death by 58%. In conclusion, poor households are more likely to experience an AIDS death and in turn are more vulnerable to the socioeconomic impact of death. Therefore, it is justifiable to target HIV-impact mitigation programs on poorer households.     

心脏瓣膜替换术后抗凝治疗的健康宣教

目的：研究向人工瓣膜替换术后患进行健康宣教的目的、内容及方法。方法：对施行心脏瓣膜替换术的３７１例进行健康宣都,着重进行抗凝指导,结果：３７１例术后均用华法林终身抗凝,因服用华法林并发出血９例,其中脑出血５例,消化道出血４例,治愈５例。结论：心脏瓣膜替换术后要加强健康宣教,着重抗凝治疗的必要性、方法出院后复查凝血酶原时间。     

Dark Agouti and Fischer 344 rats: differential behavioral responses to morphine and biochemical differences in the ventral tegmental area.

We sought to identify behavioral and biochemical differences between Dark Agouti and Fischer 344 inbred rat strains to assess whether they could serve as a model of genetically determined differences in sensitivity to drugs of abuse. We compared the strains for the following traits: morphine-induced locomotor activity and sensitization; circadian variation in plasma levels of corticosterone, a hormone reported to affect sensitivity to drugs of abuse; and several biochemical parameters in the ventral tegmental area and nucleus accumbens, brain regions implicated in the locomotor activating and reinforcing actions of drugs of abuse. Fischer 344 rats exhibited greater initial locomotor responses to morphine but, unlike Dark Agouti rats, did not develop sensitization to a second morphine exposure. Fischer 344 rats displayed a marked rise in basal plasma corticosterone levels in the late light phase and early dark phase, whereas Dark Agouti rats showed no significant circadian variation in corticosterone levels. Relative to drug-naive Fischer 344 rats, drug-naive Dark Agouti rats showed higher levels of tyrosine hydroxylase and glial fibrillary acidic protein, and lower levels of neurofilament proteins, in the ventral tegmental area. In contrast, no strain differences were found in levels of tyrosine hydroxylase, specific G protein subunits or protein kinase A in the nucleus accumbens. Together, these results demonstrate that Dark Agouti rats and Fischer 344 rats exhibit differences in specific behavioral, endocrine and biochemical parameters related to sensitivity to drugs of abuse.