METHODS: A hospital-based cross-sectional study was conducted at Koshi Hospital, Nepal, from January to March 2020. All women who met the inclusion criteria of age ≥18 years of age, Morang residents of Nepalese nationality, had received routine antenatal care, and given birth at Koshi Hospital were recruited consecutively. The World Health Organization criteria were used to identify the women with SMM. A multiple logistic regression analysis was performed. Overall, 346 women were recruited.
FINDINGS: The prevalence of SMM was 6.6%. Among the SMM cases, the most frequently occurring SMM conditions were hypertensive disorders (12, 56.5%), hemorrhagic disorders (6, 26.1%), and severe management indicators (8, 34.8%). Women with no or primary education (adjusted odds ratio: 0.10, 95% confidence interval: 0.01, 0.76) decreased the odds of SMM compared to secondary education.
CONCLUSION: The approximately 7% prevalence of SMM correlated with global studies. Maternal education was significantly associated with SMM. If referral hospitals were aware of the expected prevalence of potentially life-threatening maternal conditions, they could plan to avert future reproductive complications.
METHODS: Effects of APC on expressions of genes encoding catalase (katA), superoxide dismutases (SODs), including sodA and sodM, and alkyl hydroperoxide reductase (ahpC) in S· aureus were quantitated by RT-qPCR in reference to gyrA and 16S rRNA. Corresponding activities of the enzymes were also investigated. The Livak analysis was performed for verification of gene-fold expression data. Effects of APC on intracellular and extracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels were determined using the nitroblue tetrazolium (NBT) reduction assay.
RESULTS: APC-treated S· aureus cells had higher sodA and sodM transcripts at 1.5-fold and 0.7-fold expressions respectively with corresponding increase in total SOD activity of 12.24 U/mL compared to untreated cells, 10.85 U/mL (P<0.05). Expression of ahpC was highest in APC-treated cells with 5.5-fold increased expression compared to untreated cells (P<0.05). Correspondingly, ahpC activity was higher in APC-treated cells at 0.672 (A310nm) compared to untreated cells which was 0.394 (A310nm). In contrast, katA expression was 1.48-fold and 0.33-fold lower respectively relative to gyrA and 16S rRNA. Further, APC-treated cells showed decreased catalase activity of 1.8 ×10-4 (U/L or μmol/(min·L)) compared to untreated cells, which was 4.8 ×10-4 U/L (P<0.05). Absorbance readings (A575nm) for the NBT reduction assay were 0.709 and 0.695 respectively for untreated and treated cells, which indicated the presence of ROS. APC-treated S· aureus cells had lower ROS levels both extracellularly and intracellularly, but larger amounts remained intracellularly compared to extracellular levels with absorbances of 0.457 and 0.137 respectively (P<0.05).
CONCLUSION: APC induced expressions of both sodA and sodM, resulting in increased total SOD activity in S· aureus. Higher sodA expression indicated stress induced intracellularly involving O2- , presumably leading to higher intracellular pools of H2O2. A concommittant decrease in katA expression and catalase activity possibly induced ahpC expression, which was increased the highest in APC-treated cells. Our findings suggest that in the absence of catalase, cells are propelled to seek an alternate pathway involving ahpC to reduce stress invoked by O2- and H2O2. Although APC reduced levels of ROS, significant amounts eluded its antioxidative action and remained intracellularly, which adds to oxidative stress in treated cells.
METHOD: A cross-sectional study at government preschools in Kota Setar District was conducted from February to April 2020. Selection of preschools and students was done using multistage simple randomisation. A self-administered questionnaire containing demographic and digital device use details was filled by parents.
RESULTS: The prevalence of digital device use among preschool children was 95.9% and mostly used smartphones (94.2%). Most children (95%) did not own the device, and usage was under supervision (95.7%). The reason for supervision was to prevent exposure to inappropriate content (70.5%). The common reasons for allowing digital device use were for educational (37.4%) and entertainment purposes (36%) through videos (30.9%) and games (30.2%). Approximately 21.5% and 50.3% of the children spent more than 1 and 2 hours on digital devices during weekdays and weekends, respectively.
CONCLUSION: The prevalence of digital device use among the preschool children in Kota Setar District was very high. Most of them used digital devices for educational and entertainment purposes under parental supervision. However, some exceeded the recommended screen time on weekends. These findings could promote awareness of digital device use among young children and help design public health awareness programmes and future policies.
OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to evaluate the role of IPF% and identify its cut-off value in predicting platelet recovery in dengue patients with thrombocytopenia.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: Serial platelet count and IPF results were obtained from fifty-four confirmed dengue patients with platelet count <50x109 /L. Median peak IPF% and number of patients with platelet recovery were determined. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve is generated to identify the IPF% cut-off value to predict platelet recovery.
RESULTS: Median peak IPF% among dengue patients was 12.15% with 83.3% of them achieving platelet recovery after reaching the peak IPF%. There was a significant difference between median IPF% on day one of admission with peak IPF% among dengue patients. ROC curve analysis showed IFP% of 10.55% can be used to predict platelet recovery with a sensitivity of 69% and a specificity of 67%.
CONCLUSION: IPF% is a reliable and useful parameter in predicting platelet recovery in dengue patients. This would assist the clinician in managing dengue patients especially those with severe thrombocytopenia without giving unnecessary platelet transfusion.