American medical journal最新文献

{"title":"Knowledge of Chemical Hazards and Prevalence of Darkroom Diseases among Darkroom Technicians and Assistants in Southeast, Nigeria","authors":"M. Okeji, F. Idigo, A. Anakwue, U. Nwogu","doi":"10.3844/AMJSP.2015.27.30","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3844/AMJSP.2015.27.30","url":null,"abstract":"Darkroom technicians and assistants are exposed daily to x-ray processing chemicals. These chemicals contain known irritants which can cause some disease symptoms to its handlers. The aim of this study was to assess the knowledge of chemical hazards and prevalence of darkroom diseases among darkroom technicians and assistants in Southeast, Nigeria. The study adopted cross-sectional survey. A total of 105 darkroom technicians and assistants who met the inclusion criteria in the 10 tertiary hospitals in Southeast, Nigeria were enlisted in the study. Data were collected using researcher-developed questionnaire and on-the-spot assessment of adequacy of ventilation in the darkroom. The questionnaire sought data on demographic variables, knowledge of the constituents of the processing chemicals, adherences to operating guidelines, knowledge of possible side effects, any observed sudden episodes of ill health and presence of workshops for new employees and older staff. The reliability of the instrument was conducted using test re-test in two tertiary hospitals in Southwest Nigeria. The internal consistency was calculated using Cronbach alpha which yielded a co-efficient of 0.82. A total of 105 questionnaires were administered and 100 copies properly completed and returned giving a return rate of 95.2%. 72% of the respondents had knowledge (mean = 3.20±0.71) of chemical hazard associated with x-ray processing chemicals while 34% had knowledge (mean = 3.12±1.3) of the constituents of the processing chemicals. Forty-four respondents (44%) always read the enclosed Materials Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) (mean = 2.57±1.1) before mixing the chemicals. The prevalence of darkroom disease among darkroom technicians and assistant in Southeast, Nigeria from our study was 68%. There were no significant differences (p>0.05) on the knowledge of darkroom disease, constituents of the processing chemicals and attention to Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) among darkroom technicians and assistants of different educational levels. There was high knowledge of chemical hazards among darkroom technicians and assistants from our study. However poor knowledge of the constituents of the processing chemicals and poor attention to the MSDS were noted to contribute to increase in the prevalence of the diseases.","PeriodicalId":89887,"journal":{"name":"American medical journal","volume":"6 1","pages":"27-30"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-11-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.3844/AMJSP.2015.27.30","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"70192995","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Visual Curvatures of H1N1 Incidences in African, Asian, European, American and Oceanic Nations","authors":"R. Shanmugam","doi":"10.3844/AMJSP.2015.14.26","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3844/AMJSP.2015.14.26","url":null,"abstract":"The World Health Organization (WHO) was worried about the outbreak of H1N1 epidemic worldwide as it consumed several human lives. In a novel manner, this article defines, computes and illustrates the effectiveness of health administrators’ efforts to extinguish pandemic H1N1 using curvature concept. Data on weekly incidences of H1N1 in year 2009 among the nations in Africa, Asia, Europe, Americas and Oceanic continents are utilized to compare continents and nations within the continent. A knowledge discovery from the data analysis of 2009 incidences is a necessity before any future incidences erupt. For stochastic reasons, which are stated and explained in the article, an Incidence Rate Restricted Inverse Binomial Distribution (IRRIBD) is introduced in this article to be an appropriate underlying model for the data. The plasticity of IRRIBD to explain the dynamics of the influenza is investigated. The actual H1N1 incidences during 2009 are analyzed and interpreted using IRRIBD in the illustration.","PeriodicalId":89887,"journal":{"name":"American medical journal","volume":"6 1","pages":"14-26"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-10-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.3844/AMJSP.2015.14.26","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"70192985","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Big Data in Medical Applications and Health Care","authors":"Lidong Wang, C. Alexander","doi":"10.3844/AMJSP.2015.1.8","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3844/AMJSP.2015.1.8","url":null,"abstract":"Big Data can unify all patient related data to get a 360-degree view of the patient to analyze and predict outcomes. It can improve clinical practices, new drug development and health care financing process. It offers a lot of benefits such as early disease detection, fraud detection and better healthcare quality and efficiency. This paper introduces the Big Data concept and characteristics, health care data and some major issues of Big Data. These issues include Big Data benefits, its applications and opportunities in medical areas and health care. Methods and technology progress about Big Data are presented in this study. Big Data challenges in medical applications and health care are also discussed.","PeriodicalId":89887,"journal":{"name":"American medical journal","volume":"6 1","pages":"1-8"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-05-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.3844/AMJSP.2015.1.8","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"70192921","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"PROBING NON-ADHERENCE TO PRESCRIBED MEDICINES? A BIVARIATE DISTRIBUTION WITH INFORMATION NUCLEUS CLARIFIES","authors":"R. Shanmugam","doi":"10.3844/AMJSP.2014.56.62","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3844/AMJSP.2014.56.62","url":null,"abstract":"No illness gets cured without the patient’s adheren ce to the prescribed medicine (s). Reasons such as too many medicines, lack of health insurance coverage, high co-payment cost, loss of cognitive memory to t ake. are commonly noticed for non-adherence. In some illnesses, the patients who do not adhere to the presc ribed medicines end up again in hospital. How should the pertinent data be analyzed to learn? Currently, the re is no suitable methodology to scrutinize the data for a c lear assessment about the significance of a reason. To fulfil such a need, this article develops and demonstrates a new underlying bivariate probability model for t he data and a statistical methodology to extract pertinent information to check whether the non-adherent proportion of patients to medicine (s) is significant enough t o come up with strict remedial policies. To start w ith, the case of too many prescribed medicines is examined. Then, the repeated hospitalization due to nonadherence is examined. The contents of this article could be easily extended to other reasons of nonadherence as well. In the presence of a reason, the re might exist a number of non-adherent X and a number of adherent, Y patients. Both X and Y is observable in a sample of size n1 with the presence of a reason and in another random sample of size n2 with the absence of a reason. The total sample size is n = n 1 + n 2. Let 0<φ<1 and 0< ρ<1 denote respectively the probability for a reason to exist in a patient and the probability for a patient to be non-adherent to the prescribed medicines. Of interest to the medical community is the trend of the sum, T = X+Y and Z = n-X-Y denoting respectively the total number of non-adhe rent and adherent patients irrespective of a reason. Hence, this article constructs a bivariate probability dis tribution for T and Z utilize it to explain several non-trivialities. To illustrate, non-adherence patients’ data in the literature are considered. Because the bivariate pr obability distribution is not seen in the literatur e, it is named as non-adherent bivariate distribution. Various statistical properties of the non-adherent bivariate distribution are identified and explained. An information based hypothesis testing procedure is devised to check whether an estimate of the parameter, ρ is significant. Two closely connected factors for the patients not adhering to the prescribed medicines are examin ed. The first is a precursor and it is that too man y medicines are prescribed to take. In an illustratio n for the first reason, the probability for a patie nt not to adhere the medicines is estimated to be 0.78 which is statistically significant. The second is the pos t cursor and it is that the patients not-adhering to the medicines are more often hospitalized again. In an illustration of the second factor, the probability for the diabetic patients not to adhere the medicin es is estimated to be 0.44 which is significant. The stat istical power of accepting the","PeriodicalId":89887,"journal":{"name":"American medical journal","volume":"5 1","pages":"56-62"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-07-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.3844/AMJSP.2014.56.62","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"70192776","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"RADIOSENSITIZATION OF CANCER STEM CELLS: TARGETING TGFβ, NOTCH OR TELOMERASE TO IMPROVE TUMOR RESPONSE O RADIOTHERAPY","authors":"I. Fernandez-Garcia","doi":"10.3844/AMJSP.2014.43.55","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3844/AMJSP.2014.43.55","url":null,"abstract":"Radiation resistant cancer stem cells are the main reason for treatment failure and tumor recurrence after cancer radiotherapy. Increasing biological evidences demonstrate that these cells possess the capacity to repair radiation induced DNA damage, protect themselves from radiation derived reactive oxygen species, survive and proliferate after several fractions of radiotherapy and finally, repopulate the heterogeneity of the tumor. Thus, targeting and eliminating these cells should be necessary to achieve cancer cure in radiotherapy. Three major approaches that specifically target radioresistant cancer stem cells have been recently investigated. First, inhibition of TGFβ, a major mediator of the tissue response to radiation, has been shown to induce radiosensitization of cancer stem cells by targeting the DNA damage response mechanism. Second, by preventing Notch activation during fractionated radiotherapy, cancer stem cells were depleted from their ability to repopulate the tumor after radiation. Finally, telomerase activity inhibitors have shown to specifically decrease the cancer stem cell population after radiotherapy. In the present review, we evaluate these radiosentitizing approaches and their possible effects when combined with fractionated radiotherapy as they promise to be a powerful tool in the battle against this cancer.","PeriodicalId":89887,"journal":{"name":"American medical journal","volume":"5 1","pages":"43-55"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-07-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.3844/AMJSP.2014.43.55","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"70192744","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"LACTIC ACIDOSIS AND HEMOPHAGOCYTIC LYMPHOHISTIOCYTOSIS: A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE","authors":"C. Thongprayoon, P. J. Edmonds, P. Ungprasert, W. Cheungpasitporn, N. Srivali, Daych Chongnarungsin","doi":"10.3844/AMJSP.2014.39.42","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3844/AMJSP.2014.39.42","url":null,"abstract":"Lactic acidosis is the most common cause of anion gap metabolic acidosis and is associated with high morbidity and mortality in hospitalized patients. The association between Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) and lactic acidosis is still unclear. HLH causes cytokine overproduction which in turn induces lactic acidosis. There have been only few reports of type B lactic acidosis in HLH patients. There have been no studies addressing the outcome of cytokine removal for patients with HLH induced lactic acidosis. We reviewed literatures on HLH, focusing on its association with lactic acidosis and treatment options. This review demonstrates thatlactic acidosis in patients with HLH is under-recognized. Physicians should increase awareness of this association. In the setting of cytokine storm with multiorgan failure, cytokine removal with high blood flow, ultrafiltration rate and frequent membrane changes is a potential treatment option. More studies are urgently required to confirm this finding due to high morbidity and mortality of HLH.","PeriodicalId":89887,"journal":{"name":"American medical journal","volume":"5 1","pages":"39-42"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-07-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.3844/AMJSP.2014.39.42","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"70192729","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"SEROTONIN SYNDROME MASKED BY CONCOMITANT INGESTION OF ZOLOFT WITH BENZODIAZEPINE IN SUICIDE ATTEMPT IN A YOUNG HEALTHY MALE","authors":"K. Schrapp, W. Omer","doi":"10.3844/AMJSP.2014.33.36","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3844/AMJSP.2014.33.36","url":null,"abstract":"This case report discusses the history and management of a schizophrenic patient, a 18-year-old man, who had taken a massive overdose of clonazepam, abilify, depakote, zoloft and seroquel altogether. After discontinuation of these drugs and administration of cyproheptadine with IV fluids, he became hemo-dynamically stable. This case suggests that serotonin syndrome should be recognized promptly and complications need to be treated appropriately. Serotonin syndrome should be diagnosed surely to ensure the prompt initiation of the treatment including discontinuation of the precipitating drugs because the disease occasionally progresses rapidly to fatal condition. In addition, both the onset and resolution of symptoms are faster in serotonin syndrome.","PeriodicalId":89887,"journal":{"name":"American medical journal","volume":"5 1","pages":"33-36"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-04-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.3844/AMJSP.2014.33.36","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"70193144","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"POSTERIOR CEREBROVASCULAR ACCIDENTS AFTER PERCUTANEOUS CORONARY INTERVENTION","authors":"C. Quattrocchi, A. Alexandre, L. Scarciolla, M. Tombini, E. Faiella, F. Occhicone, B. Zobel","doi":"10.3844/AMJSP.2014.28.32","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3844/AMJSP.2014.28.32","url":null,"abstract":"Percutaneous Coronary Interventional procedures (PCIs) are recognised as gold standard treatment for h igh risks patients with diffuse coronary atherosclerosi s. Neurologic complications are one of the most dre aded procedural outcomes, stroke after PCI affects mainl y elderly and high-risk patients (age more than 80 years and use of intra-aortic balloon pump), with longer times of the procedure and angiographic complicatio ns, such as dissection, abrupt closure and no reflow. W e report two consecutive cases of posterior CVAs af ter percutaneous coronary procedures involving the ponto-mesencephalon and the cerebellum. Especially when risk factors are present, careful attention should be devoted to the preparation of the patient and to minimize catheter manipulation and exchanges.","PeriodicalId":89887,"journal":{"name":"American medical journal","volume":"5 1","pages":"28-32"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-04-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.3844/AMJSP.2014.28.32","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"70192682","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"IMPACT OF DEHYDROEPIANDROSTERONE IN PREVENTION OF PARACETAMOL INDUCED NEPHROTOXICITY IN RATS","authors":"Abbas O. Elkarib","doi":"10.3844/AMJSP.2014.16.27","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3844/AMJSP.2014.16.27","url":null,"abstract":"Paracetamol (PCM) overdose can cause nephrotoxicity with oxidative stress as one of the possible mecha nisms mediating the event. However, Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), the major secretory product of the human adrenal gland, has been shown to possess a multi-ta rgeted antioxidant activity which is also effective against lipid peroxidation induced in various animal models and against various human disorders. In this study, the preventive effect of DHEA against PCM-induced nephrotoxicity was examined. Rats were divided into four groups containing 10 rats each, as follows: A control: Rec eived normal saline, Vehicle treated: Received the vehicle (5% DMSO), PCM model (750 mg kg -1 ), PCM and DHEA treated: Received concomitant dose of PCM (750 mg kg -1 ) + DHEA (250 mg kg -1 ), respectively, for 4 consecutive weeks. All treat ment were given orally to animals. Our results show that co-treatment of DHEA with PCM prevented the PCM-induced nephrotoxicity and oxidative impairments of the kidney, as evidenced b y a significantly reduced (p<0.05) level of serum c reatinine, urea and BUN with parallel significant increases in serum protein, Cr clearance and kidneys weights. Furthermore, DHEA was able to induce a significant increment (p<0.05) of renal levels of reduced Gluta thione (GSH) and activities of Superoxide Dismutase (SOD) and Glutathione Peroxidise (GPx). An effect that wa s accompanied with a significant decrease in renal li pid peroxides levels (MDA). The nephroprotective effects of DHEA was confirmed by a reduced intensity of renal cellular damage, as evidenced by histological findi ngs. In conclusion, DHEA at a daily dose of 250 mg kg -1 has a protective role against PCM-induced nephroto xicity in","PeriodicalId":89887,"journal":{"name":"American medical journal","volume":"5 1","pages":"16-27"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-03-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.3844/AMJSP.2014.16.27","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"70192669","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"PROBABLE CREUTZFELDT JAKOB DISEASE: CASE REPORT","authors":"Y. B. Bello, Alexandre P. R. P. Almeida, D. Sueth, E. Belizario, Fabíola Sampaio Brandão, M. Leite, M. Orsini, A. Catharino","doi":"10.3844/AMJSP.2014.13.15","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3844/AMJSP.2014.13.15","url":null,"abstract":"Prion diseases are associated with the accumulation of an abnormal isoformof cellular prion protein (PrPSc), which is the principal constituent of prions. Prions replicate in lymphoreticular tissues before neuroinvasion, suggesting that lymphoreticular biopsy samples may allow early diagnosis by detection of PrPSc. Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD) is the most frequent prion disease in humans. Clinical diagnosis of sporadic (CJD) is based on the evaluation of rapidly progressive dementia, ataxia, myoclonus, changes on the electroencephalogram and other neurological signs. We report a problable (CJD) case in Santa Barbara surgical center, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. From our clinical case, we decided to do a brief review about (CJD) researching at MedLine and Pubmed, using terms Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and Prion diseases. A definite diagnosis, however, is confined to cases that have been evaluated neuropathlogically or by equivalent diagnostic techniques. The range in clinical expression of the disease is better appreciated and the existence of \"atypical\" cases of CJD is increasingly recognized. The clinical characteristics, laboratory findings, differential diagnosis, mechanisms of transmission and the actual therapeutic approach are discussed.","PeriodicalId":89887,"journal":{"name":"American medical journal","volume":"5 1","pages":"13-15"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-03-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.3844/AMJSP.2014.13.15","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"70192659","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}