Research Article
Despite the very high burden of malaria among children in Borno state, the proportion of those who receive standard treatment has been very low. This study aimed to determine malaria knowledge, attitude towards prevention, and health care seeking behaviours of parents or caregivers of children presenting with fever at the paediatric clinic of a secondary-level hospital in Maiduguri, Borno state, Nigeria. A cross-sectional study design was used to obtain information from the respondents. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire, from the parents or caregivers of children presented to the Paediatric clinic with history of fever, and analysed in SPSS. A total of 331 respondents were finally recruited into the study. The ages of the children ranged from one to fourteen years. Some of them (15.3%) were internally displaced persons (IDPs). As many as 90.7% and 91.9% of the respondents believed that malaria is a life-threatening illness, and ITNs could prevent malaria, respectively. Less than a half of them (42.3%) had immediately brought their children to the hospital once they detected the fever. At the hospital, only 202 (60.7%) of the children had had malaria parasite test done on them, of which 89.1% tested positive. Permanent residents were more likely to promptly take their children to the hospital, one they detected fever, compared to IDPs (Χ2=12.401, df =1, p=0.002). There is the need for promoting early presentation of febrile children to health centres, and also promoting routine malaria tests for febrile persons.
This study aims to evaluate the impact of physical activity (PA) on the prevalence of hypertension among older adults in Beijing community. As economy growing rapidly in China, the occurrence of hypertension increases among older people in China as well. Epidemiological studies have shown that physical activity may significantly related to lower risk of hypertension. Taking PA maybe an instructive factor to reduce the risk of being hypertensive. We randomly selected Beijing community residents aged 65 and above (n=400), collected data comprising level of PA (low, moderate, high), blood pressure, and a host of potentially confounding variables indicated by the literature. Five logistic regression models adjusted for different modifiers were used to estimate the association between hypertension and PA. The prevalence of hypertension was 96.88%, 78.57% and 73.66% among subjects with low, moderate and high level of PA respectively. Lower diastolic BP was observed for elder people with higher level of PA (p<0.01). We observed a strong and statistically significant association between moderate (OR=0.09, 95%CI: 0.01 to 0.74) or high (OR=0.08, 95%CI: 0.01 to 0.57) level of PA and lower risk of hypertension (p < 0.05). PA is a protective factor for hypertension among older Beijing people, which suggests elderly people be encouraged to actively engage in PA, if body conditions permit.
Evaluation of the effectiveness of sexual skills training on increasing marital satisfaction
Background and Aims: Dissatisfaction with sexual relationships can influence the marital life of people and have negative psychological effects on them. Hence, the current research was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of sexual skills training on marital satisfaction. Methods: The study design was quasiexperimental with pre-test and post-test type along with a control group. The research samples included 14 couples (28 people) who were randomly divided into experimental and control groups to evaluate the effect of sexual medicine intervention. Interventions were provided to the experimental group during 9 sessions. Control group did not receive any interventions during this time. Enrich Marital Satisfaction Questionnaire (short form) was used to collect the data. Data were analyzed using SPSS, version 19, software. Results and Conclusion: The results revealed that sexual skills training increased marital satisfaction (p<0.01). Thus, based on the results obtained and the importance of sexual skills training in increasing marital satisfaction, psychotherapists and counselors are recommended to use this intervention to reduce marital problems and increase satisfaction in couples.
Case Report
Misdiagnosed behavior change revealing fatal primitive intra-cerebral echinococcosis
Central nervous system involvement in hydatidosis is rare compared to other somatic localizations: 1-5%. It is schematically divided into two major types: cerebral involvement and spinal involvement. The brain is a rare localization of hydatid cyst accounting for only 2% of all hydatid disease. The psychiatric manifestations revealing cerebral hydatidosis remain exceptional and often unrecognized and neglected by practitioners despite their potential severity. We report two original observations of fatal cerebral hydatidosis revealed by behavior change (psychomotor agitation, aggressiveness, persecutory delusion, and auditory and visual hallucinations) insufficiently explored in two women aged 45 and 17. The possibility of cerebral hydatidosis must always be evoked in front of any psychiatric symptomatology that remains unexplained in endemic areas for echinococcosis.
Review
Pages 30-33
The necessity of regional DOHaD centers based on programming/imprinting and embedding-like phenomena
A mini-review is presented for the evidence of growth-inhibitory effects of several psychoneurotropic drugs and glucocorticoids on developing animals and humans, together with our own data obtained in experimental models, as well as in epidemiologic studies confirming female predominance in morbidity caused by affective disorders and in consumption of some psychoneurotropic drugs. The emerging concepts of pharmacotoxicologic programming/imprinting and embedding are discussed, justifying the necessity of regional DOHaD centers.
Commentary
Pages 66-68
Analysis of information flows of passive mobility
The health mobility is a right of the citizens that they can turn to any structure, without territorial restrictions, to look for an answer to their needs. Often produces inappropriateness and increases costs without affecting the quality of care. The purpose of this work is to study in depth the phenomenon of passive hospital mobility of Calabrian citizens through detailed and comparative analysis relating to the years 2014 and 2015, and the analysis of inappropriateness.
The argument against crowdfunding Alzheimer's disease research
With pharmaceutical companies’ repeated failures at finding effective interventions for Alzheimer’s disease, together with an increasing reliance on the growing Federal funding for research, there is an emergent opportunity for financing alternate research through crowdfunding. Crowdfunding - where funding is obtained from small donations from a large group of people-has become a new source of funding for medical research. By understanding how the research community has evolved to study Alzheimer’s disease the pitfalls of this strategy can be highlighted. Alzheimer’s disease research is complex. From its inception in the early 1900s, Alzheimer’s disease has been at the center of movement within psychiatry to define the disease on the basis of its biology. Recent emphasis—through the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders), RDoC (Research Diagnostic Criteria), RDoC (Research Domain Criteria) as well as the more recent Framework from the U.S. National Institute on Aging - have supported an exclusive emphasis on biology. But by excluding other aspects of the disease, such as its clinical expression, this research approach will be shown to be faulty and contradictory. So far this approach has resulted in 100% failures. By examining the historical and financial circumstances of the industry centered on Alzheimer’s disease a strong warning is given to the public to mistrust crowdfunding Alzheimer’s disease research. A broader and more inclusive approach is likely to generate a better understanding of the disease and therefore hold better promise for understanding the disease in the long term. Such a nuance approach competes badly with the more binary search for a cure and is less receptive to public support through crowdfunding.