International Journal of Medical Sociology and Anthropology

International Journal of Medical Sociology and Anthropology Vol. 8 (1), pp. 001-008, January, 2018. © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Knowledge and awareness on HIV/AIDS among blood donors: A Study at Rajshahi, Bangladesh

Abdul Goni* and Mahfuzur Rahman

Department of Population Science and HRD, University of Rajshahi, Rajshahi-6205, Bangladesh.

Accepted 17 November, 2017

Abstract

Human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is the most devastating disease that mankind has ever faced. For being neighboring country of India, Bangladesh has been highly vulnerable to HIV infection. Though Bangladesh continues to maintain low HIV prevalence status, however the infection rate is on the rise at Rajshahi Division. Some studies have been carried out on the knowledge about HIV/AIDS among some risk groups, but studies on blood donor’s awareness about HIV/AIDS are rarely found. This study aims at investigating the knowledge and awareness about HIV/AIDS among the blood donors at Rajshahi Metropolitan of Bangladesh. In this study, primary data was used. Data reveals that, though about 89% blood donors knew it is transmitted through blood transfusion, only 1% of them had undertaken blood test before donation, which is alarming. The odds of having preliminary and preventive knowledge fell with the increase in age of the respondents. Besides these, blood donors who were educated and who were in service were found more aware about the HIV/AIDS than the others. Strict rules and regulations should be maintained regarding blood screening. Overall people should be encouraged to use condoms and abide by the religious rules to avoid HIV/AIDS infection. Both, Government and Non-Government organizations should augment their educational and focused group discussion (FGD) programs on HIV/AIDS knowledge.

Key words: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), blood donors, awareness, focused group discussion (FGD).

International Journal of Medical Sociology and Anthropology Vol. 8 (1), pp. 001-005, January, 2018. © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Prevalence of depression and role of support groups in its management: A study of adult HIV/AIDS patients attending HIV/AIDS Clinic in a tertiary health facility in South-eastern Nigeria

Ndu A. C.¹*, Arinze-Onyia S. U.², Aguwa E. N.¹ and Obi I. E.¹

¹Department of Community Medicine, University of Nigeria, Enugu, Enugu State, Nigeria.

²Department of Community Medicine, Enugu State University Teaching Hospital, Enugu, Nigeria.

Accepted 16 October, 2017

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to determine the prevalence of depression among adult HIV/AIDS patients attending HIV/AIDS clinic in a tertiary health facility in South-eastern Nigeria. The study was a cross-sectional descriptive study carried out in June 2007. A consecutive sampling method was used to recruit participants for assessment of the prevalence of depression among HIV/AIDS patients. A pre-tested questionnaire and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) were used to collect data. A total of 122 patients were studied and majority of the respondents (86.9%) were between 18 and 40 years with a female preponderance (65.6%). Fifty four percent were married. Almost half of respondents were either traders (27%) or students (22.1%) and majority (80.3%) had a minimum of secondary education. Using HADS, 21.3% were depressed and 21.3% had borderline depression. The main causes of depression were stigmatization and the disease being terminal in nature. Only 53.3% of the total population were aware of HIV support groups, and of this percentage only 46.2% belonged to any support group. Though more of the respondents who do not belong to a support group were more likely to be depressed, the difference was not significant (χ² = 1.40, P = 0.236).Depression is very high among HIV/AIDS patients and belonging to support groups may help in its reduction and should be encouraged.

Key words: Prevalence, depression, HIV/AIDS, support groups, Nigeria.

International Journal of Medical Sociology and Anthropology Vol. 7 (2), pp. 001-006, February, 2017. © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Antibiotic susceptibility of common bacterial pathogens in urinary tract infections in a Teaching hospital in Southwestern Nigeria

B. B. Oluremi, A. O. Idowu* and J. F. Olaniyi

Department of Pharmaceutical Microbiology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Nigeria.

Accepted 23 August, 2016

Abstract

Urinary tract infection (UTI) is one of the most common bacterial infections in humans and a major cause of morbidity. However, the aetiology of UTI and their antibiotic sensitivity patterns vary from time to time and across different areas. This study determines the frequently isolated UTI bacteria from in-patients and out-patients of a Teaching hospital in Southwestern Nigeria and their antibiotic susceptibility patterns. Sixty (60) bacterial isolates from urine of patients with significant bacteriuria in UTI were collected and evaluated for their antibiotic sensitivity using modified Kirby-Bauer method. UTI was frequently encountered in females (61.7%) and older patients (50%). 55% of the isolates were from in-patients. The most common etiological organisms of UTI were Esherichia coli (46.7%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (18.3%), Klebsiella spp (13.3%), Staphylococcus aureus (13.3%) and Proteus spp (6.7%). Pseudomonas aeruginosa was found only among hospital isolates while Staphylococcus aureus was isolated from females only. Antibiotic susceptibility pattern revealed that the Enterobacteriaceae were highly susceptible to Ciprofloxacin (71.4 to 75%) while Nitrofurantoin demonstrated the best activity against S. aureus isolates (100%) in both community and hospital acquired UTI. All the isolates exhibited high degree of resistance to Augmentin and amoxicillin. High rate of multi-drug resistance was recorded among all isolates. In view of the increasing rate of resistance of UTI pathogens to commonly used antibiotics, rational prescription and use of antibiotics is advocated.

Key words: Urinary tract infections, bacterial pathogens, susceptibility.

International Journal of Medical Sociology and Anthropology Vol. 6 (1), pp. 001-007, January, 2017. © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Patterns of antibiotic sensitivity of bacterial pathogens among urinary tract infections (UTI) patients in a Pakistani population

Kalsoom BANO¹*, Jafar KHAN^1*, RIFAT¹, Hasina Begum¹, Shahzad MUNIR¹, Noor ul AKBAR³, Jamil Ahmad ANSARI², and Muhammad ANEES¹

¹Department OF Microbiology Kohat University of Science and Technology Kohat, Pakistan.

²National Institute of Health (NIH) Islamabad, Pakistan.

³Department of Zoology Kohat University of Science and Technology Kohat, Pakistan.

Accepted 21 October, 2016

Abstract

Urinary tract infections (UTI) are common and frequently encountered serious morbidity that afflicts its toll not only to all segments of human population but also results in increasing antibiotic resistance due to persistence and mis-management of the ailment. Pathogenic organisms’ isolation and determination of antibiotic resistance by bacterial uropathogens in a cross section of patients was investigated at National Institute of Health, Islamabad. A total of 115 samples were collected from June to the August 2009. Identification was conducted by conventional biochemical tests and API 20E system. Percentage identification of API-20E was 100% for Enterobacter cloacae and Klebsiella pneumoniaea while 98.9% for E. coli. Antibiotic sensitivity test was analyzed by disc diffusion method using different antibiotics and their zone of inhibition was measured. The bacterial isolates were identified as Escherichia coli (46.98 %) and E. cloacae, methicilline resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), Staphylococcus saprophyticus (1.20 %). In this study it was found that K. pneumoniae showed highest sensitivity (80%) to cefapime and low susceptibility (13%) to ciprofloxacin, while the highest resistance (60%) to gentamicin and the lowest (6%) to meropenem, nitrofurantoin and ciprofloxacin was also observed. The susceptibility of S. aureus was highest (64%) to amikacin, augmentin and oxacillin and lower sensitivity for ampicillin and moderate for erythromycin, methicillin, and cefotaxime with 45% outcome. The overall results obtained indicated varied patterns of antibiotic sensitivity and resistance, warranting therefore the judicious and rational use of antibiotic in the routine treatment of UTIs to prevent the recurrence as well as resistant strains.

Key words: Urinary tract infection (UTI), antimicrobial sensitivity, disc diffusion, analytical profile index (API 20E), uropathogens.

International Journal of Medical Sociology and Anthropology Vol. 7 (1), pp. 001-009, January, 2017. © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Molecular epidemiology of Escherichia coli strains isolated from children with community acquired urinary tract infections

Shohreh Farshad^1*, Mojtaba Anvarinejad¹, Ali Mehrabi Tavana², Reza Ranjbar³, Aziz Japoni¹, Reza Mohammad Zadegan³ and Abdolvahab Alborzi¹

¹Clinical Microbiology Research Center- Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Nemazi  Hospital, Shiraz 71937-11351, Iran.

²Health Research Management Center- Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

³Molecular Biology Research Center-Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

Accepted 15 June, 2016

Abstract

This paper aimed to study the drug resistance patterns and the reliability of antibiogram and pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) patterns in epidemiological study of uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) isolated from the children with community acquired urinary tract infection (UTI). Totally ninety E. coli strains were isolated from urine samples of children with community acquired UTI and tested for susceptibility to fourteen different antibiotics, using disc diffusion method. To study the molecular epidemiology of these strains, their genomic patterns were determined using PFGE. Forty five patterns of resistance have been recognized for the E. coli strains. High prevalence of resistance to ampicillin (80.2%), trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (76%), and tetracycline (70.8%) was seen among the UPEC isolates. All the isolates were 100% sensitive to imipenem. In PFGE, sixty five patterns from the genome of E. coli strains were observed. Based on drawn dendrogram the sample patterns were divided into two groups. All the samples except two have different clonalities. In conclusions it seems that imipenem, amikacin and nitrofurantoin can serve as drug of choice for the treatment of UTI caused by E. coli, respectively. With regard to high differentiation power of PFGE method in comparison with antibiogram and according to the obtained patterns and high diversity of these profiles, no epidemic UPEC was determined in the studied population.

Key words: Escherichia coli, urinary tract infection, children, epidemiology, genotyping.

International Journal of Medical Sociology and Anthropology Vol. 6 (2), pp. 001-008, February, 2016. © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Antitumor effects of cucurmosin in human chronic myeloid leukemia occur through cell cycle arrest and decrease the Bcl-2/Bax ratio to induce apoptosis

Jieming Xie^1#*, Wenzhong Que^2#, Minghuang Chen³, Jiancheng Sun¹, Tinbo Liu⁴, Huili Liu⁴, Mei Liu⁴, Aiqin Yang¹, Pei Yang⁴ and Yulu Wang¹

¹College of Pharmacy, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, 350005, China.

²The First Clinical Medical College of Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, 350005, China.

³The State Key Laboratory of Structural Chemistry, Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Fuzhou, 350002, China.

⁴Fujian Institute of Hematology, Union Hospital, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, 350005, China.

Accepted 21 January, 2015

Abstract

Cucurmosin, a novel type 1 ribosome-inactivating protein, induced cell death in various cell types including several tumor cell lines. However, the mechanism remained largely uncharacterized. In this study, we investigated the possible mechanism underlying its cytotoxicity by using K562 cells. In the study, typical characteristics of apoptosis, such as cell shrinkage, apoptotic bodies, cell cycle arrest and DNA fragmentation, were observed in cucurmosin treatment. The loss of the MMP (³ψ_m) and the content of cytochrome c in cytolis were increased in cucurmosin treatment. Cucurmosin-treated activated caspase-3, down regulated the expression of anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 protein and upregulated the expression of pro-apoptotic Bax protein, eventually leading to a decrease of the Bcl-2/Bax ratio in K562 cells. Down-regulation of p210^{Bcr -Abl} protein level in cucurmosin treatment was observed. In addition, Hsp90, the molecular chaperone of p210^bcr/abl was also down-regulated in cucurmosin treatment. Our data indicated that cucurmosin induced apoptosis of K562 cells by mitochondria dysfunction and the down-regulation of P210^bcr/abl by disrupting molecular chaperone functions of Hsp90 might be also one of the mechanisms implicated in the cucurmosin-mediated apoptosis in the K562 cells. Thus, this study provided the rationale to investigate cucurmosin as a potential therapeutic agent for leukemia cells.

Key words: Cucurmosin, chronic myeloid leukemia, k562 cells, apoptosis.