Contraception among Medical and Paramedical Students in Cotonou, Benin in 2016: Knowledge and Practices

Contraception is a mean of preventing unwanted pregnancies and thus prevents induced abortions and its complications.

To assess the knowledge and practices of future health workers on contraception, this was a survey carried out in Cotonou (Benin) by the students of the Medical Training and Research Unit at the Faculty of Health Sciences (FSS) and the Institut Médico-Sanitary (INMeS).

The survey involved 525 students, including 259 males and 266 females. The average age of students was 21 ± 2 years (15-31 years). Almost all students (9/10) had at least one contraceptive method. The rate of contraceptive use was 86.5%.

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Does Glycated Haemoglobin Reflect Blood Glucose Levels in Women with Gestational Diabetes?

The value of performing glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) at a late stage of pregnancy to assess glycaemic status for women with gestational diabetes (GDM) is unclear, and the correlation between HbA1c and blood glucose level (BGL) in women with GDM is unknown.

This study examined the association between 36 week HbA1c and BGL readings from daily blood glucose monitoring over the previous 28 day period.

HbA1c was measured in 120 consecutive women with GDM at 36 week’s gestation and their glycaemic profiles from self-monitoring of BGL in the previous 4 weeks were documented.

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Gestational Hypoglycaemia Restricts Foetal Growth and Skeletal Ossification in the Rat

Maternal blood glucose level during gestation is crucial for normal foetal development. In the non- clinical studies in non-diabetic rats required by authorities, long-acting insulin analogous being developed to decrease blood glucose levels persistently generate safety data on embryo-foetal effects, which may be challenging to interpret.

Separating potential toxicological effects of the insulin analogue from those caused by the hypoglycaemia becomes problematic, when the effects of the latter are unknown.

Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate foetal effects of persistent maternal hypoglycaemia in rats after continuous maternal insulin-infusion throughout gestation. Effects on foetal size were measured and foetal skeletons were examined after alizarin red and alcian blue staining.

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Neurodevelopmental Outcome in Neonates with Hypoglycaemia and Associated Risk Factors

Neonatal hypoglycemia is a common problem requiring medical attention in newborn and a leading cause of preventable brain damage, physical and mental handicap and early deaths among infants.

To study the prevalence of neuro-developmental abnormalities and risk factors associated with poor outcome. This was a prospective study on 39 neonates with hypoglycemia who were admitted to neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) from November 2015 to December 2016 and were fulfilling the inclusion criteria.

Gestational age at birth, sex, birth weight, age of presentation, duration and severity of hypoglycaemia were noted in all neonates.

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Assessment of Knowledge, Attitude and Behaviour towards Emergency Contraceptive among Female Students

Unintended pregnancy is one of the most common prevalent problems in young women globally, which leads them to distortion of physical and mental health. Moreover, the awareness of the young women about emergency contraceptive is lower among developing countries women.

Perhaps, to improve the awareness of the young women about emergency contraceptive and reproductive health issues has a crucial role in improving the health of women specifically young women.

The objective of this study is to determine the knowledge, Attitude and practice of emergency contraceptive among Fasiledes preparatory school of Gondar, Ethiopia.

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Langerhans Cells Ascertaining in Cervical Tissues Obtained from Women with Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia

Impairment of cell-mediated immunity in cervical cancer (CC) and intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) has been reported. In this study, Langerhans cells (LC) subpopulations were quantitatively evaluated in cervical tissuesamples obtained from Brazilian patients exhibiting progressive grades of CIN, (CIN)I (n=3), CINII (n=3) and CINIII (n=3), in addition to three normal controls.

The precise number of cervical LC was determined in the entire area of lesioned epithelium from CIN samples, by performing a morphometric analysis of Langerhans cells positive for two distinct markers, S100 and Langerin (Lang) detected either by Immunofluorescence or Immunohistochemistry analysis.

In normal cervix, a higher density of Langerin+ cells was observed whereas S100+ LC were predominant in pre-neoplastic lesions samples.

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Factors Associated with Treatment Outcomes of Under-five Children with Severe Acute Malnutrition Admitted to Therapeutic Feeding Unit of Yirgalem Hospital

Worldwide severe acute malnutrition (SAM) affects more than 19 million children and Africa pointed as a region where the problem is highly prevalent.

Because of the high chance of death, as compared to wellnourished one, child with severe acute malnutrition needs hospitalization or strict follow up for clinical management.

However, protocol is available for the clinical management of SAM cases, monitoring and evaluation of treatment center performance is important for the betterment of outcomes.

Thus, this study aimed to assess treatment outcome and associated factors among under-five children with severe acute malnutrition admitted to therapeutic feeding unit of Yirgalem Hospital.

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Erectile Dysfunction: The Problem Hiding Behind Prostate Cancer

We read with great interest, the article written by Quaresima et al. evaluating the onset of erectile dysfunction (ED) in patients under active surveillance (AS) for low risk prostate cancer.

We think that this topic is of huge importance, as ED affects enormously the quality of life in patients who are not under great threat by their primary illness in terms of mortality.

Also, when a cancer diagnosis is on the table, many of the complaints that are not directly a cause of mortality are overlooked. Thus, investigating the AS patients for ED carries a significant importance to provide good health care.

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Psycho-Social Influence of Multimedia Violence amongst Children of School Age in Ile-Ife, Nigeria

The study established the influence of psycho-social influence of multimedia violence on children of school age in Ile-Ife, Nigeria.

A total of 150 school age children involved in the study were randomly selected from four different schools constituted the sample for the study.

Two validated instruments used for the study were author-constructed questionnaires with 0.71 and 0.76 reliability co-efficient respectively.

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Analysis on Medical Insurance Status of the Elderly in Urban Shaanxi Province of China

This paper contributed to summarize researches of population aging and medical insurance in China and Shaanxi Province and worked out the health service demands and medical insurance status of the elderly in Shaanxi Province.

Moreover, it demonstrated the present situation and challenges of medical insurance of the elderly in urban areas in Shaanxi Province and explored effective ways of optimizing the medical insurance system of the elderly in urban China.

Methods including cluster random sampling, questionnaire survey and interview were conducted. Data analysis was performed by SPSS 21.0. And logistic regression analysis was used to analyse factors that affected the satisfaction rate.

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Clinical Competencies in the Care of Women

Although the use of contraception has been associated with improving the health of women and children, its utilization among refugee women was limited.

Thus, the main aim of the study was to assess factors associated with use of modern contraceptive methods among married women residing in Sheder refugee camp Somali Region, Eastern Ethiopia.

A community based cross-sectional study was conducted among 329 randomly selected married women found in reproductive age group. Data were collected using structured questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS version 20software.

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Clinical Competencies in the Care of Women: Intertextuality and Transversality Between Gynecology and Family Medicine

here is an increasing body of scientific evidence of the differences in the way men and women become ill, in the evolution of disease, and in the way drugs are used.

However, the chronic problems presented by women are still considered to be inferior or minor, women are not always included in clinical trials systematically, natural processes such as pregnancy, childbirth and menopause are often medicalized.

We do not study the problems that women really suffer and instead create new problems when dealing with pain and discomfort with psychotropic drugs without investigating the underlying causes or pathologies.

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Zika Virus Pandemic – Misconceptions and its Implications

The pandemic of Zika virus infection is a formidable threat to the American public health and is the fourth arboviral pandemic arriving to the western hemisphere in the past three decades after Dengue, West Nile virus and Chikungunya.

This arbovirus was discovered in Uganda in 1947 in the course of rhesus primate surveillance.

The arbovirus circulated predominantly in wild primates and rarely caused human infections. This makes its explosive pandemic re-emergence as truly fascinating, arriving from Africa to the Western hemisphere

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Preference of Birth Delivery Modes among Women Attending Antenatal and Postnatal Clinics in the Tamale Metropolis of Ghana

Spontaneous vaginal delivery is the commonest mode of delivery globally, particularly in remote areas of resource constrained countries where modern healthcare is limited.

This study sought to establish among antennal and post natal attendees, women’s preferences regarding modes of delivery and the factors influencing their choices of delivery.

This cross sectional hospital based study was conducted at the antenatal and post-natal care units of the obstetrics and gynaecology department of the Tamale Teaching Hospital.

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Assessing the Magnitude of Institutional Delivery Service Utilization and Associated Factors among Mothers in Debre Berhan, Ethiopia

Institutional delivery service utilization is essential to improve maternal and child health. However, little is known about institutional delivery service utilization in Debre Berhan, Ethiopia.

This study was aimed at assessing the magnitude of institutional delivery service utilization.

Community based cross sectional study was done on 424. Census was carried out in 5 urban and two rural kebeles (the smallest administrative unit) to identify mothers who gave birth in the past two year.

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The Gomeroi Gaaynggal Cohort: A Preliminary Study of the Maternal Determinants of Pregnancy Outcomes in Indigenous Australian Women

The life expectancy of Indigenous Australians is amongst the lowest of any population group within developed nations and chronic diseases collectively account for over 80% of the gap in life expectancy between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.

The Gomeroi gaaynggal cohort is a prospective, longitudinal maternal-infant cohort established to examine the origins of chronic disease in Indigenous Australians.

This study aimed to determine the major antenatal factors associated with adverse birth outcomes (preterm delivery, low birth weight) and other pregnancyrelated complications (gestational diabetes and hypertensive disorders of pregnancy) in Indigenous Australian women.

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Pain in New born and Nursing Management

It is determined that first nociceptors (pain sensing receptors) occur in the perioral region at 7 weeks of intrauterine life, spread in the rest of face, the palms of the hands and feet at 11 weeks, with arms and legs at 15 weeks, all cutaneous and mucosal surfaces at 20 weeks.

Distribution of nociceptive nerve endings in the skin of neonates was determined to be similar in density to an adult. In addition, pain in neonates is transmitted by unmyelinated C fibers.

These fibers transmit impulses slowly. It starts second or seconds later than painful stimuli and continues for minutes to increase in size. Pain transmitted by this fiber is perceived as dispersed, continuous, dull and burning.

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The Impact of Short Stature on the Childrens Psychology

Short stature (SS) is defined as height more than two standard deviations below the mean for age and gender. SS could be a result of organic or non-organic causes.

Non-organic causes include: familial short stature, malnutrition, constitutional delay of growth and adolescence. Around 2% of all children present with SS. Boys tend to come to medical attention more frequently than girls.

However, the percentage of girls with organic disease significantly exceeded that of boys. Differences in height were more pronounced around the age of 9 years. Sex was not associated with severity of short stature.

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Thyroid Metastasis from Renal Cell Carcinoma Eight Years after Total Nephrectomy

Localized malignant renal tumors requires a surgical intervention as first line treatment by partial nephrectomy, or if it is not feasible, by radical nephrectomy. The risk for recurrence after surgery is about 30 to 40%, with median delay time of 15 month. Although the first metastatic site is pulmonary, it is not rare to observe some metastasis in other organs such as thyroid.

The renal origin of thyroid metastasis is an important prognostic indicator to consider, because it determines the therapeutic management of a patient. It has been demonstrated that these secondary sites could not be synchronous, and can occur until more than twenty years after the initial nephrectomy.

We report the case of a 70 year old patient followed for asymptomatic multi-nodular goiter diagnosed with a thyroid metastasis of renal carcinoma operated eight years ago.

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The Management of Abortions at the Maternity Regional Hospital of Saint Louis from 2013 to 2015

The objectives were to determine the prevalence of abortions at CHR Saint Louis and define the epidemiological profile of patients.

This was a cross sectional study descrriptive of abortion cases registered in the Obstetrics and Gynecology Service Hospital Saint Louis. Study ran from 1 January 2013 to 28 February 2015, or 26 months.

We included all patients carrying a pregnancy of less than 22 weeks and who has an abortion. The variables studied were the socio-demographic characteristics, age of pregnancy, care mode, complications, and counceling chosen contraceptive method.

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Profile, Morbidities and Symptoms Management of Menopausal Women, in Cotonou

In Benin, as life expectancy continues to increase, the number of postmenopausal women increases. Menopause is a physiological phenomenon that can be quiet for some+, tumultuous in others.

Few studies are devoted to menopause in Africa and Benin in particular. The objective of this study was to describe the profile, clinical symptoms of menopausal women as well as management of postmenopausal symptoms in Cotonou, Benin.

This is an analytical cross-sectional study in Cotonou, the capital city of Benin Republic during the month of August 2014. 2021 women were included in the study out of a female population of 11,669 people aged 40 and older.

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Call to Action: Motivating Moms to Move

The findings published by Flegal and colleagues report a linear increasing trend in overweight and obesity among US women (40%).

The recent reported rise in obesity among American women is not only alarming for the many women that will suffer from the adverse health effects brought on by the disease but also for future generations of children that are born to mothers that are overweight or obese.

This worrying trend is not specific to the United States. According to the WHO, approximately 15% of women worldwide are obese and this translates into more women of childbearing age becoming obese.

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The Impact of Short Stature on the Childrens Psychology: An Examination of Child Psychology, Peer and Familial Relationships and Academic Performance

This study investigated the impact SS (short stature) on children’s psychology, peer and familial relationships and the academic performance.

A cross-sectional quantitative face-to-face survey of 656 males and female children aged 4-18 years. It was conducted from March 2015 to April 2015 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

There was a weak significant relationship between height and negative psychology of SS children. There was no relationship between SS children and negative peer relationships, familial relationships or academic performance.

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Response to Hydrolysed Collagen Protein Supplementation in a Cohort of Pregnant and Postpartum Women

There is overwhelming evidence that links maternal nutrition during pregnancy with fetal outcomes. This study evaluated the safety and efficacy of Protiva treatment responses in pre and postpartum female subjects between the ages of 19 years and 43 years who entered into this open label study.

The protocol was designed to take a twice daily collagen protein supplementation drink during the third trimester and for 10 weeks postpartum.

The outcomes were measured against a control group of patients who did not take the protein supplementation. The differences between mean score for the physical health domain of WHOQOL-BREF scale in the Protiva group and the control group were different and met statistical significance (p=0.0003).

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Otocephaly:Agnathia Microstomia Synotia Syndrome-A Case Report

Otocephaly is characterized by aplasia or hypoplasia of mandible, a small oral fissure and low lying ears at the level of neck usually meeting in the midline.

This is due to the failure of migration of the ventral part of the first brachial arch. This rare lethal non familial condition occurs in 1 in 70,000 births.

This is the first reported case of otocephaly in Sri Lanka as per our best knowledge, a baby girl born to non-consanguineous parents, who was unable to survive a long time after birth. This case is being reported because of its rarity.

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Role of Fibroblast Growth Factor Receptor 2 in Pancreatic Cancer: Potential Target for New Therapeutic Approach?

Fibroblast growth factors and their receptors play a key role in cell proliferation, migration and differentiation. Fibroblast growth factor receptor 2 (FGFR2) is involved in carcinogenesis and its altered expression has been shown in several tumors, such as breast, thyroid and pancreatic cancer.

The two isoforms of FGFR2 gene, FGFR2-IIIb (also known as KGFR) and FGFR2-IIIc have been shown to exert differential roles in pancreatic cancer.

This review focuses on the role of FGFR2 signaling in pancreatic adenocarcinoma and the potential use of FGFR2 tissutal expression as a predictive and/or prognostic marker.

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What do Semen Parameters Mean? How to Define a Normal Semen Analysis

Although abnormal semen parameters are generally considered to be poor predictors of fertility, Semen Analysis (SA) parameters are often used as a screening test to detect male factor infertility.

Certainly, men with azoospermia or severe oligozoospermia have markedly impaired fertility potential. Since men with abnormal fertility could undergo various medical or surgical treatments to improve semen parameters and fertility, it is clinically relevant to have a test for infertility.

According to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine and American Urological Association guidelines, semen analysis and male reproductive history are considered the primary screening evaluation for male fertility potential.

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Maternal Satisfaction with the Delivery Services in Assela Hospital, Arsi Zone, Oromia Region, Ethiopia,2013.

A woman’s satisfaction with the delivery service may have immediate and long term effects on her health and subsequent utilization of the services.

Providing satisfying delivery care increases service utilization. Women play a principal role in the rearing of children and the management of family affairs, and their loss from maternity-related causes is a significant social and personal tragedy.

Methods: a cross sectional study was conducted in February 2013 on a sample of 398 delivering mothers in Assela Hospital using convenient sampling technique. Data was collected using structured questionnaire and analyzed by SPSS version 17. Statistical tests were employed and significance level was taken at p-value<0.05.

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