Health seeking behavior and use of medicinal plants among the Hamer ethnic group,South Omo zone,southwestern Ethiopia

Background

Health seeking behavior of people around the globe is affected by different socio-cultural and economic factors. In Ethiopia, people living in rural areas in particular, are noted for their use of medicinal plants as a major component of their health care option. This study was conducted to document ethnopharmacological information of the Hamer semi-pastoralists ethnic group in southwestern Ethiopia.

Methods

A cross-sectional study was carried out whereby information on demographic characteristics, prevalence of perceived illnesses, factors associated with preference of health care seeking options, medicinal plants used and hoarded as well as some healers’ socio-economic characteristics were collected using two sets of semi-structured questionnaires – one for household (HH) heads and the other for traditional healers supplemented by focus group discussions (FGDs). Households were selected using a cluster sampling followed by systematic sampling techniques; whereas healers and FGD participants were purposively selected with the assistance of local leaders and elders from the community.

Results

The study revealed that the use of traditional medicine among the Hamer ethnic group is very high. Females preferred traditional medicine more than males. The main reasons for this preference include effectiveness, low cost and ease of availability. Malaria (gebeze) was the most frequently occurring illness in the area identified by all FGD participants. A total of 60 different medicinal plants were reported [34 by HH respondents, 14 by traditional healers and 12 by both]. Fifty-one medicinal plants were fully identified, 3 at generic level and 6 have not yet been identified.

Conclusion

It can be concluded that traditional medical practices, particularly herbal aspect, is widely used by the Hamer ethnic group, although health seeking behavior of the community is affected by different socio-economic and cultural factors.

     

Knowledge on HBV vaccine and vaccination status among health care workers of Hawassa University Comprehensive Specialized Hospital,Hawassa, southern Ethiopia: a cross sectional study

Objectives

The study was conducted to assess the knowledge on HBV vaccine and vaccination status among health care workers of Hawassa University Comprehensive Specialized Hospital.

Result

From the total 258 questionnaire prepared for the study participant, data was collected from 241 participants making the response rate of 93.4%. Regarding socio-demographic characteristics of respondents 98 (40.7%), and 159 (66%) were females and Bachelor of Science graduates respectively. Only 73 (30.3%) respondents reported that they are vaccinated for hepatitis B vaccine. But only 16 (21.9%) received three doses of Hepatitis B vaccine, which was 6.6% of the total health care workers. More than half 146 (60.6%) of the respondents had good knowledge about hepatitis B virus infection and 120 (49.8%) had good knowledge about hepatitis B vaccine. Regarding knowledge about hepatitis B virus infection prevention and control methods, 131 (28.5%) of the respondents have good knowledge.

     

Community Attitude and Associated Factors towards People with Mental Illness among Residents of Worabe Town,Silte Zone,Southern Nation’s Nationalities and People’s Region,Ethiopia

Background

Mental illnesses worldwide are accompanied by another pandemic, that of stigma and discrimination. Public understanding about mental illnesses and attitudes towards people with mental illness play a paramount role in the prevention and treatment of mental illness and the rehabilitation of people with mental illness.

Objective

To assess community attitude and associated factors towards people with mental illness.

Methods

Community based cross-sectional study was conducted from April 28 to May 28, 2014. Quantitative data were collected through interview from 435 adults selected using simple random sampling. Data were collected using community attitude towards mentally ill (CAMI) tool to assess community attitude towards people with mental illness and associated factors. Multiple linear regression analysis was performed to identify predictors of community attitude towards people with mental illness and the level of significance association was determined by beta with 95% confidence interval and P less than 0.05.

Results

The highest mean score was on social restrictiveness subscale (31.55±5.62). Farmers had more socially restrictive view (β = 0.291, CI [0.09, 0.49]) and have less humanistic view towards mentally ill (β = 0.193, CI [-0.36, -0.03]). Having mental health information had significantly less socially restrictive (β = -0.59, CI [-1.13, -0.05]) and less authoritarian (β = -0.10, CI [-1.11, -0.06]) view towards mentally ill but respondents who are at university or college level reported to be more socially restrictive (β = 0.298, CI [0.059, 0.54]). Respondents whose age is above 48 years old had significantly less view of community mental health ideology (β = -0.59, CI [-1.09, -0.08]).

Conclusion and Recommendation

Residents of Worabe town were highly socially restrictive but less authoritarian. There was high level of negative attitude towards people with mental illness along all the subscales with relative variation indicating a need to develop strategies to change negative attitude attached to mental illness in Worabe town at community level.     

Ex vivo generation of a functional and regenerative wound epithelium from axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum) skin

Urodele amphibians (salamanders) are unique among adult vertebrates in their ability to regenerate structurally complete and fully functional limbs. Regeneration is a stepwise process that requires interactions between keratinocytes, nerves and fibroblasts. The formation of a wound epithelium covering the amputation site is an early and necessary event in the process but the molecular mechanisms that underlie the role of the wound epithelium in regeneration remain unclear. We have developed an ex vivo model that recapitulates many features of in vivo wound healing. The model comprises a circular explant of axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum) limb skin with a central circular, full thickness wound. Re‐epithelialization of the wound area is rapid (typically <11 h) and is dependent on metalloproteinase activity. The ex vivo wound epithelium is viable, responds to neuronal signals and is able to participate in ectopic blastema formation and limb regeneration. This ex vivo model provides a reproducible and tractable system in which to study the cellular and molecular events that underlie wound healing and regeneration.     

Structure and evolution of the genomes ofsorghum bicolor andZea mays

Cloned maize genes and random maize genomic fragments were used to construct a genetic map of sorghum and to compare the structure of the maize and sorghum genomes. Most (266/280) of the maize DNA fragments hybridized to sorghum DNA and 145 of them detected polymorphisms. The segregation of 111 markers was analyzed in 55 F₂ progeny. A genetic map was generated with 96 loci arranged in 15 linkage groups spanning 709 map units. Comparative genetic mapping of sorghum and maize is complicated by the fact that many loci are duplicated, often making the identification of orthologous sequences ambiguous. Relative map positions of probes which detect only a single locus in both species indicated that multiple rearrangements have occurred since their divergence, but that many chromosomal segments have conserved synteny. Some sorghum linkage groups were found to be composed of sequences that detect loci on two different maize chromosomes. The two maize chromosomes to which these loci mapped were generally those which commonly share duplicated sequences. Evolutionary models and implications are discussed.     

The in vitro survival of human monosomies and trisomies as embryonic stem cells

Chromosomal aneuploidies are responsible for severe human genetic diseases. Aiming at creating models for such disorders, we have generated human embryonic stem cell (hESC) lines from pre-implantation genetic screened (PGS) embryos. The overall analysis of more than 400 aneuploid PGS embryos showed a similar risk of occurrence of monosomy or trisomy for any specific chromosome. However, the generation of hESCs from these embryos revealed a clear bias against monosomies in autosomes. Moreover, only specific trisomies showed a high chance of survival as hESC lines, enabling us to present another categorization of human aneuploidies. Our data suggest that chromosomal haploinsufficiency leads to lethality at very early stages of human development.     

Sesquiterpenes from Warburgia ugandensis and their antimycobacterial activity

The dichloromethane extract of the stem bark of Warburgia ugandensis afforded three new coloratane sesquiterpenes, namely: 6alpha,9alpha-dihydroxy-4(13),7-coloratadien-11,12-dial (1), 4(13),7-coloratadien-12,11-olide (2), and 7beta-hydroxy-4(13),8-coloratadien-11,12-olide (3), together with nine known sesquiterpenes, i.e., cinnamolide-3beta-acetate (4), muzigadial (5), muzigadiolide (6), 11alpha-hydroxymuzigadiolide (7), cinnamolide (8), 7alpha-hydroxy-8-drimen-11,12-olide (9), ugandensolide (10), mukaadial (11), ugandensidial (12), and linoleic acid (13). Their structures were assigned on the basis of 1D and 2D-NMR spectroscopic and GC-MS analysis. The compounds were examined for their antimycobacterial activity against Mycobacterium aurum, M. fortuitum, M. phlei and M. smegmatis; and the active constituents showed MIC values ranged from 4 to 128 microg/ml compared to the antibiotic drugs ethambutol (MIC ranged from 0.5 to 8 microg/ml) and isoniazid (MIC ranged from 1 to 4 microg/ml).     

Lipid production and fatty acid composition of selected strains belonging to Mucorales

The lipid accumulation, fatty acid composition and γ-linolenic acid (GLA) production by 28 strains belonging to Mucorales were investigated. The lipid content varied from 5 to 30% on dry biomass and the percentage of γ-linolenic acid in total intracellular lipid was in a range from 2.5 to 15.4% (w/w). The best yield of γ-linolenic acid (expressed as mg GLA per 1 g biomass) was found for Mucor mucedo CCF – 1384 (28.4) and Cunninghamella echinulata CCF – 103 (25.1).     

Antibiotic selection pressure and macrolide resistance in nasopharyngeal Streptococcus pneumoniae: a cluster-randomized clinical trial

Background

It is widely thought that widespread antibiotic use selects for community antibiotic resistance, though this has been difficult to prove in the setting of a community-randomized clinical trial. In this study, we used a randomized clinical trial design to assess whether macrolide resistance was higher in communities treated with mass azithromycin for trachoma, compared to untreated control communities.

Methods and Findings

In a cluster-randomized trial for trachoma control in Ethiopia, 12 communities were randomized to receive mass azithromycin treatment of children aged 1–10 years at months 0, 3, 6, and 9. Twelve control communities were randomized to receive no antibiotic treatments until the conclusion of the study. Nasopharyngeal swabs were collected from randomly selected children in the treated group at baseline and month 12, and in the control group at month 12. Antibiotic susceptibility testing was performed on Streptococcus pneumoniae isolated from the swabs using Etest strips. In the treated group, the mean prevalence of azithromycin resistance among all monitored children increased from 3.6% (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.8%–8.9%) at baseline, to 46.9% (37.5%–57.5%) at month 12 (p = 0.003). In control communities, azithromycin resistance was 9.2% (95% CI 6.7%–13.3%) at month 12, significantly lower than the treated group (p<0.0001). Penicillin resistance was identified in 0.8% (95% CI 0%–4.2%) of isolates in the control group at 1 year, and in no isolates in the children-treated group at baseline or 1 year.

Conclusions

This cluster-randomized clinical trial demonstrated that compared to untreated control communities, nasopharyngeal pneumococcal resistance to macrolides was significantly higher in communities randomized to intensive azithromycin treatment. Mass azithromycin distributions were given more frequently than currently recommended by the World Health Organization''s trachoma program. Azithromycin use in this setting did not select for resistance to penicillins, which remain the drug of choice for pneumococcal infections.

Trial registration

www.ClinicalTrials.gov {"type":"clinical-trial","attrs":{"text":"NCT00322972","term_id":"NCT00322972"}}NCT00322972 Please see later in the article for the Editors'' Summary     

Virologic Response to Tipranavir-Ritonavir or Darunavir-Ritonavir Based Regimens in Antiretroviral Therapy Experienced HIV-1 Patients: A Meta-Analysis and Meta-Regression of Randomized Controlled Clinical Trials

Background

The development of tipranavir and darunavir, second generation non-peptidic HIV protease inhibitors, with marked improved resistance profiles, has opened a new perspective on the treatment of antiretroviral therapy (ART) experienced HIV patients with poor viral load control. The aim of this study was to determine the virologic response in ART experienced patients to tipranavir-ritonavir and darunavir-ritonavir based regimens.

Methods and Findings

A computer based literature search was conducted in the databases of HINARI (Health InterNetwork Access to Research Initiative), Medline and Cochrane library. Meta-analysis was performed by including randomized controlled studies that were conducted in ART experienced patients with plasma viral load above 1,000 copies HIV RNA/ml. The odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for viral loads of <50 copies and <400 copies HIV RNA/ml at the end of the intervention were determined by the random effects model. Meta-regression, sensitivity analysis and funnel plots were done. The number of HIV-1 patients who were on either a tipranavir-ritonavir or darunavir-ritonavir based regimen and achieved viral load less than 50 copies HIV RNA/ml was significantly higher (overall OR = 3.4; 95% CI, 2.61– 4.52) than the number of HIV-1 patients who were on investigator selected boosted comparator HIV-1 protease inhibitors (CPIs-ritonavir). Similarly, the number of patients with viral load less than 400 copies HIV RNA/ml was significantly higher in either the tipranavir-ritonavir or darunavir-ritonavir based regimen treated group (overall OR = 3.0; 95% CI, 2.15 – 4.11). Meta-regression showed that the viral load reduction was independent of baseline viral load, baseline CD4 count and duration of tipranavir-ritonavir or darunavir-ritonavir based regimen.

Conclusions

Tipranavir and darunavir based regimens were more effective in patients who were ART experienced and had poor viral load control. Further studies are required to determine their consistent viral load suppression effect as the duration of treatment is more prolonged.