Patterns of Variation in Botanical Supplement Use among Hispanics and Latinos in the United States

In the United States (US), botanical dietary supplements are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration under the 1994 Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act. The Act defines dietary supplements as “a product (other than tobacco) that is intended to supplement the diet that bears or contains one or more of the following dietary ingredients: an herb or other botanical, a vitamin, a mineral, an amino acid, a dietary substance for use by man to supplement the diet by increasing the total daily intake, or a concentrate, metabolite, constituent, extract, or combinations of these ingredients.

Botanical supplements are popular in the US; national surveys estimate that approximately 18% of the US population uses botanical supplements. The literature supports a wide body of prevalence data on botanical supplement use in the general population, but less is known about use patterns in minority populations, including Hispanics/Latinos. Among studies in these populations, prevalence estimates vary widely and the reasons for these large variations are obscure. Read more.................

Crime and Punishment in Ancient Surgery: An Examination of Assyrian and Egyptian Physicians

The history of surgery is a fascinating collection of knowledge from various civilizations dating back up to four thousand years. Some of the oldest writings on surgery and surgeons’ duties date back to the Hammurabi code and Egyptian papyri. The role of the surgeon, particularly, has always had a somewhat peculiar distinction from that of other physicians. In reality, the physician sphere rarely interacted or overlapped with the surgeon sphere of practice, and responsibilities and rewards assigned to the two groups were frequently completely different. We sought to examine and compare the scope of practice, risks, rewards, and punishments of surgeons in Ancient Assyria and Ancient Egyptian times.

Ancient Assyria: The Surgeon’s Role

In 1849, Lord Austin Henry Layard excavated the vast majority of the clay tablets that we now associate with Assyrian times. This movement to preserve Assyrian medical texts occurred approximately four thousand years after their original creation. One can appreciate thousands of tablets and approximately 800 complete medical texts attributable to the Assyrian and Babylonian civilizations from Lord Layard’s work. Read more>>>>>>>>>>

The Perspective of Socioeconomic Inequalities and Infectious Disease in 21st Century

At the turn of the new century, the United Nations set a series of global health goals to be achieved by 2015. Amongst the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), goalsix aimed to combat HIV, malaria and other diseases . Whilst progress has been made towards addressing MDG 6, improvement has been slower than anticipated and both communicable and non-communicable diseases have risen to prominence in the minds of health planners in the last few years. In recent times, attention has been focused on addressing non-communicable diseases, as statistics indicate they are the major threats to health.

However, the notion that infectious diseases could be eradicated, which came to prominence in the 1960s and 70s, has proven to be false and the need to address the growing threat from infectious diseases has become clear. Since the turn of the century it has become apparent that we are losing the fight against infectious diseases, and many of the diseases we thought under control are now a threat once again. Additionally, several new forms of infectious disease have been recorded, many of which threaten human health as we have little or no resistance towards them. Read more<<<<<<<<<

Epidemiology of Cryptococcal Meningitis Associated with HIV in an Indian Hospital

This was a retrospective observational study in which the medical records of patients of cryptococcal meningitis were analyzed in view of their demographics, presenting complaints, HIV status, co -morbid conditions, diagnostic tests, treatment and outcome. Suspected CSF specimens were subjected to direct India ink examination, urease test and culture. Presumptive identification as C. neoformans species complex was done by salient physiological features manifested by the colonies growing on Saboraud Dextroseagar (SDA) at 37ºC, positive urease test and chocolate brown coloured yeast-like colonies on niger seed agar medium. 

They were confirmed by ID 32 C carbon assimilation profiles, read and interpreted by the mini API system (Biomerieux). In vitro antifungal susceptibility of all confirmed isolates was determined by broth microdilution method for amphotericin B (AMB), 5-fluorocytosine (5FC), fluconazole, ketoconazole, voriconazole and itraconazole. The mating types of strains were determined as described by Yan et al. The strains were genotyped by PCR fingerprinting with the repetitive oligonucleotide (GACA) 4 used as a single primer. Read more..............................

Ebola Virus Disease: A Biological and Epidemiological Perspective of a Virulent Virus

Ebola disease is acute, serious and often fatal if no treatment and preventive measures are put in place. The virus is endemic in the sub-Saharan Africa where it causes major as well as minor epidemics. Mitigation strategies have not been well understood because of the easy transmission of disease among humans. There are no approved drugs for treatment while vaccines are being tested for human safety. bola genus is subdivided into five speciesi.e., Zaire, Ivory Coast, Sudan, Reston and Bundibugyo. 

The risk of infection with Ebola virus is associated with three behaviours which are, close contact with an infected person in the later stages of infection; caring for a person with an Ebola infection or when preparing the deceased for a decent burial. Viral pathogenesis: Data on disease pathogenesis has been obtained from laboratory studies that employ nonhuman primates such as monkeys, baboons and other animals such as mice. Prevention and control strategies rely on employing different interventions in case management, surveillance and contact follow-up, provision of good laboratory services as well as safe burials. For the control of outbreaks, there should be community engagement and training to increase awareness on disease risk factors. Read more........................

High Risk of Transfusion-Transmitted Malaria (TTM) from Student Blood Donors

This study aimed at determining the risk of transfusion-transmitted malaria (TTM) from student donors. A cross-sectional study was carried out in January 2015 in students living in the town of Douala, Cameroon. 179 students aged between 18 and 32 years were included in the study and their blood tested for the presence of malaria parasites using thick blood films. A questionnaire form was administered to each participant for documenting socio demographical, clinical and malaria-related data. The prevalence of malaria infection among donors was27.54%. 

Overall prevalence of the asymptomatic malaria was 10.17% which accounted for 47.36% of all cases of malaria infection. Mean parasite density was the highest in males, 21-25 years old and bed nets users with 139 ± 346 parasites/μl, 132 ± 341 parasites/μl and 156 ± 476 parasites/μl respectively. None of the factors tested were found to be associated with an increased risk of malaria infection (pvalue> 0.05). Finally This study has highlighted a potential high risk of TTM from student donors. In many endemic areas malaria diagnosis is overlooked thus increasing the risk of TTM and constraining its appraisal.  Read more....................

Antigenic Screening for Helicobacter pylori in Stool of Patients Infected with Human Immunodeficiency Virus from a Tertiary Care Hospital

Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori ), is a causative agent for gastric damage and has been linked to many diseases, including gastritis, peptic ulcer, and gastric malignancies, since its identification in 1982. Though half of the world’s population is infected with H. pylori , only approximately 30 percent of the infected people are symptomatic with more than 70 percent of them remaining asymptomatic. 

Seroepidemiological research studies are consistent with the hypothesis that H. pylori infection is mainly acquired in early childhood and that primary acquisition or reinfection after successful eradication in adults occur less frequently with an annual incidence of 6%-14% in developing countries. Read more..............