OSP Journal of Health Care and Medicine

Introduction:A case control study with a sample size 117 of patients with COVID-19 infection were investigated in order to examine the benefit of usage of anticoagulants in a retrospective manner in the state of Florida. Recently, researchers found that COVID-19 is associated with a higher incidence of thrombosis than the general population. There are various mechanisms proposed for thrombosis development, most of which are still not fully understood. The addition of anticoagulants during treatment for COVID revealed a significant mortality benefit, about 8% died in the case group including 80% of whom did not receive anticoagulant. In contrast, 37% died in the control group, 4 (80%) out of 5 patients who survived were already on anticoagulants prior to the admission. A significant P value has been seen with 0.0001, OR 41.2 and CI 95%.

Background and objective: The aim of the study is to assess the fundamental roles of anticoagulants in treatment of COVID-19 patients and an improvement of the survival rate. The goal is to provide statistical evidence that anticoagulants correlate with an improvement of the survival rate and reduce the hospitalization.

Method: Case-Control Study was conducted in COVID-19 patients and admitted to hospital. The data was obtained from two different hospitals in Florida for the year 2020-2021. Total of 117 patients were included in the study and were assigned to either the case group or the control group. In the case group; there were 65 patients versus 52 patients in the control group.

Results: In one hundred seventeen patients, 53 out of 65 patients in the case group received anticoagulants, while only 5 out of 52 in the control group were already on anticoagulants secondary to medical conditions. Additionally, 24 patients died, however only 5 out of 65 patients in the case group versus 19 out of 52 in the control group, such implementation suggests a decrease in mortality rate with the use of anticoagulants.

Conclusion: The usage of anticoagulants in COVID-19 patients provided a drastic decline in mortality rate and reduced hospitalization.

Objective: To clarify the long-term cumulative survival rate (CSR) and standardized mortality ratio (SMR) of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and osteoarthritis (OA) patients who underwent total knee arthroplasty (TKA).

Method: Data for 325 RA and OA patients with 460 primary TKAs from 1997 to 2007 were reviewed. We divided the patients into ≤70 years (u70) and ≥71 years (o71) groups. The follow-up duration in the RA group (n=118) was 12.8±4.8 years vs 13.0±4.1 years in the OA group (n=207).

Results: The SMR of the female RA patients was 1.97 (95%CI 0.96-3.89) after 5 years and 4.59 (95%CI 3.44-6.10) after 20 years. The SMR in female OA patients was 0.41 (95%CI 0.17-0.93) after 5 years and 1.31 (95%CI 0.996-1.73) after 20 years.

The 20-year CSR of female RA-o71 patients was lowest with 9.6 (95%CI 0-26). There was no significant difference in CSR between the RA-u70 and OA-o71 groups. The CSR in the OA-u70 group was highest with 77.8 (95%CI 0.62-0.93). Cox proportional hazards model analysis of female patients showed that steroid-use [Hazard ratio (HR) 3.22, 95%CI 1.32-13.46], age (HR 1.09, 95%CI 1.05- 1.30), and rheumatoid factor (HR 1.002, 95%CI 1.00-1.01) were risk factors in the RA-u70 group.

In the RA-o71 group, steroid use (HR 4.71, 95%CI 1.35-16.7), age (HR 1.38, 95%CI 1.12-1.71) and C-reactive protein (HR 1.20, 95%CI 1.02-1.41) were risk factors, whereas in the OA group, only age at surgery (HR 1.10, 95%CI 1.033-1.163) was a risk factor.

Conclusion: SMR of female patients was high in RA and low after 5 years in OA. RA-u70 patients had the similar cumulative sur- vival curve as OA-o71. The CSR of RA-o71 patients was poor. The preoperative factors affecting survival differed between u-70 and o-71 in RA.

Background: While the medical fee system for acute care in Japan provides incentives to ensure that patients are discharged early, it does not incentivize the direct reduction of postoperative complications. This retrospective study highlighted the importance of rewards for providing high-quality surgery to patients requiring open colectomy to reduce postoperative complications. The impact of postoperative complications on hospital stay length was investigated.

Methods: This study analysed 1,096 patients who underwent open colectomy between May 2004 and December 2008. A stepwise multiple regression analysis was performed to estimate the effect of complications on the length of hospital stay. The Kaplan–Meier survival analysis was used to estimate the cumulative probability of hospital stay.

Results: The mean length of hospital stay was 24.84 (SD=2.25) days. Approximately 0.9% of the patients experienced postoperative peritonitis, while 2.5% experienced postoperative ileus. The hospital stay length was prolonged by 69.9% and 51.6% (p<0.01) for the patients with postoperative peritonitis and postoperative ileus, respectively. The cumulative probability was higher for patients with complications than those without complications.

Conclusion: This study provides empirical evidence on the need to improve the quality of surgery, which will benefit patients and hospitals. It also highlights the importance of providing additional rewards to reduce postoperative complications.

Background: Caregivers of patients with dementia are chronically stressed, and dementia symptoms can increase a caregiver's sense of burden. In general, low psychological well-being due to chronic stress is associated with low HDL cholesterol (HDL-C).

Purpose: This study aimed to examine the relationship between HDL-C in caregivers of patients with dementia and caregiving factors and dementia symptoms of their care recipients.

Method: We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of HDL-C and caregiving factors as a reflection of the health status of caregivers of patients with dementia, and idleness and indifference as symptoms of their care recipients.

Result: Daily caregiving time and idleness and indifference symptoms of patients with dementia were independent predictors of HDL-C in caregivers (P<0.05).

Discussion: Caregivers spent more time taking care of patients with dementia, and they themselves may have become mentally depressed and less motivated due to the lack of improvement in their care recipients’ condition. This may have disrupted their life and prevented them from living actively.

Conclusion: In order to improve the HDL-C status of caregivers of patients with dementia, it will be important to reduce caregiving time by using services that provide caregiver support. This, in turn, would allow caregivers to live actively and improve their motivation and quality of life.

Most cases of hypothyroidism (low thyroid function) go undetected because laboratory tests measure only the presence of thyroid hormone in the blood but cannot tell us how much active hormone reaches the bodily tissues that require it for their metabolism. The main function of the thyroid gland is to regulate metabolism. The primary hormone secreted by the thyroid is thyroxine (T4), which is physiologically inactive. T4 has to be converted into its active form, triiodothyronine (T3), in order to exert its effects. This conversion is catalyzed by the action of deiodinase enzymes that are widely distributed throughout most tissues of the body. If insufficient T3 reaches bodily cells, the result is diminished basal metabolism and concomitant hypothyroidism. Low thyroid function is a physiological issue that often escapes detection by hormone blood tests. There is, however, a physiological basal temperature test (BTT) that is 100% reliable in detecting hypothyroidism.

Spondylotic myelopathy, also known as Cervical myelopathy disorder, is characterized by spinal cord dysfunction due to compressed forces.

It is considered a common spinal disorder but is still underdiagnosed or late diagnosed. Its epidemiological data on incidence and prevalence is limited, affecting up to 5% of the population older than 40 years, driving high morbidity in care settings.

This context led us to present a case of a 37-year-old female patient living with cervical myelopathy.

Background: The cost estimation of radiology and radiotherapy procedures has been inadequately studied; therefore, the present study aimed to investigate real life cost estimation in patients with breast or prostate cancer undergoing imaging investigations and radical radiotherapy.

Methods: Data were extracted from the archives of the Radiotherapy Department of the University Hospital of Patras and included patients who underwent radical radiotherapy in the years 2017-2018. The cost for radiology tests performed three months before and after radiotherapy and the cost of radiotherapy, were calculated according to the reimbursement provided by the National Health Insurance Costing system.

Results: We included in the study 115 patients, 79 patients with breast and 36 with prostate cancer. Radiology mean cost was €191.5 and €311.1 for patients with prostate and breast cancer, respectively. We found a negative correlation between patient age, place of residence and radiotherapy cost in women treated for breast cancer. Patients older than 65 years or patients living in rural areas showed a lower radiotherapy cost (Spearman’s rho, -0.421, p<0.001, Mann–Whitney U test U=105.5, p=0.03).

Conclusion: Our findings contribute to the accumulation of pan-European financial data for radiology tests and radiotherapy, presently lacking and could help guide appropriate resource allocation toward the management of these patients in an equitable manner. We linked the histology of the tumor with treatment cost in Greece and showed that it may be influenced by other factors as well.

On September 28^th, 2020 I was riding my E-bike on a mountain trail. I hit a slick spot, fell off my bike and my hip hit a rock. I was in a lot of pain, but continued my ride. When I returned home an hour later I rested my hip, applied an ice pack, elastic wrap, elevated the injury and stabilized it. (RICES). I applied ice for 1-2 hours at a time, followed by no ice for 1-2 hours. Nothing was applied at night. In the 1^st 48 hours I followed this for 6-7 times total. After this, the bruise was still very dark (fig 1).  At this point I decided to use light therapy (FireFly) and sustained acoustic medicine (SAM) to treat the injury.

Purpose : As the number of elderly people with dementia is increasing worldwide, prevention of this disease is an important issue, so we developed a robot-based dementia prevention method. The purpose of this study is to verify whether this method can improve the scores of cognitive and psychological scales.

Method : 1. The robot was placed in households with single or only elderly people, and they talked with the robot every day.

2. Memory tasks: (1) four-character idioms*, (2) dancing, (3) recalling today’s breakfast, (4) life review, and (5) recalling last night's dinner. * Four-character idioms are traditional idioms that have been used in Japan since ancient times and are familiar to the elderly.

3. The researchers and dementia prevention supporters used to visit the residents' homes once a month to check the progress of the life review records and conduct cognitive tests at the same time. In 2020, as a measure to prevent the spread of the new corona virus, all visits and meetings were suspended, and they interacted with the elderly through the robots remotely via a computer to perform tasks, exercise checks, life review checks, and cognitive checks.

Result : There were 46 subjects, 11 males, and 35 females, with the mean age of 79.2 ± 5.25. The total score of the immediate recall test is 40 points and the total score of the delayed recall test is 10 points. Each test saw a rise in the subjects’ average scores, with the immediate recall test seeing a significant increase from 29.6 to 33.9, and the delayed recall test rising from 4.9 to 7.2 (p < 0.01).　On the psychological scale, satisfaction improved from 3.2 to 4.1 (p < 0.01), vitality from 3.8 to 4.1 (n.s.), and youthfulness from 3.1 to 3.8 (p < 0.01). Regarding conversations with the robot, all participants increased the amount of conversation compared to usual. In the free description, they said that the brain training made it easier for them to remember, that the amount of conversation with the robot increased, and that the recollection brought their mind back to the time.

Conclusion : Cognitive training and life review using the robot improved cognitive test scores and increased psychological satisfaction and youthfulness. Even after they were unable to leave the house to prevent infection with the new corona virus, they were able to continue cognitive training, life review, and evaluation tests as before through telecommunication with the robot. This method is suitable for elderly people who are unable to leave the house.

The effects of Malaria coupled with the yearly climatic changes and variations of certain contributing factors embedded in the various ecological zones in Nigeria has continued to sustained the fluctuating indices of disease transmission and its endemicity. To understand these indices as a means of generating a further broad based control approaches, a cross-sectional study was conducted and results compared with retrospective data. Our findings indicate that of the 290 persons enrolled based on presumptive diagnosis, 108 (37%) were positive whereas 182 (63%) negative. Age distributions of those enrolled indicates 128(44.5 %%) were above 31 years, while the least was below 5years 6(2.10%). Coincidentally, diagnosis of malaria corroborates with the age distribution of 52(48.5%) for above 31years and 1(0.01%) for below 5years, although no significant differences recorded at P>0.05. Based on gender, more males 55(38%) than females 53(37%) were positive for malaria. Malaria parasitaemia indicates most malaria positive patients had 57(52.78%) below <1000 µL^-, 33 (30.56%) between 1000-5000 µL^-, and 18(6.67%) above >5000 µL^-. Malaria incidence rate between years 2015-2018 indicates that of the 23,745 positive patients, more males 11,880 (50.03%) than females 11,865 (49.97%) were positive to malaria, although no significant differences at P>0.05. The year 2018 recorded the highest incidence of malaria an indication that despite several efforts aimed at control and elimination, the disease still continues to persist. We therefore suggest that a multi-dimensional strategy to the control and elimination of the parasites and vectors be put in motion to help curb the menace of this disease.

Entry: Sports medicine is a clinical subspecialty that deals with the examination, monitoring, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of injuries that occur during sports events, training and physical activities in pre-hospital settings. Managing dramatic situations with minor and multiple injuries is a challenge that requires a quick approach to a dramatic event in managing minor and multiple injuries on the football field and in other sports in support of SHME in pre-hospital and hospital level.

Purpose of the Paper: Providing emergency medical care at all basic stages of managing minor and multiple injuries on the football field and in other sports in order to implement BLS (Basic Life Support), ACLS (Advanced cardiac Life Support),   BTLS (Basic  Trauma Life Support), PHTLS, ATLS (Prehospital Trauma Life support),  care measures reducing morbidity, disability and mortality.

Working Methodology: The research is of retrospective, descriptive, qualitative type. The material was   taken from the archive of the Emergency Clinic of UCCK for the period January-December 2019. Only the sick or injured in sports matches were taken in the research; Age, gender, type of illness and injury and type of medical care, equipment available and training and education.

Result: Sports injuries are very costly, and according to the pathology with diseases were 15 cases or 21.4 %, injuries were 55 cases or 78/6 %. Injured by age The largest number of injured with injuries in the field of football sports the most affected age was the age of 21-25 years with 28 cases or 40.00%, over 25 years were 27 cases or 38.58% and with a smaller number were aged 15-20 years15 cases or 21.42%.

Discussion and Conclusions: A very important factor in sports injuries is the provision of optimal medical care for footballers and other sports in head, neck, spine, chest, abdomen, and pelvis and limb injuries and with a joint communication with the cooperation of health care professionals in selection of priority cases. Education of medical staff, nurses, paramedics with courses, use of medical equipment, BLS (Basic Life Support), ACLS (Advanced cardiac Life Support), BTLS (Basic  Trauma Life Support), PHTLS, ATLS (Prehospital Trauma Life support),  as well as standard procedures for providing and transporting medical care to the hospital.

Entry: Sports medicine is a clinical subspecialty that deals with the examination, monitoring, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of injuries that occur during sports events, training and physical activities in pre-hospital settings. Managing dramatic situations with minor and multiple injuries is a challenge that requires a quick approach to a dramatic event in managing minor and multiple injuries on the football field and in other sports in support of SHME in pre-hospital and hospital level.

Purpose of the Paper: Providing emergency medical care at all basic stages of managing minor and multiple injuries on the football field and in other sports in order to implement BLS (Basic Life Support), ACLS (Advanced cardiac Life Support),   BTLS (Basic  Trauma Life Support), PHTLS, ATLS (Prehospital Trauma Life support),  care measures reducing morbidity, disability and mortality.

Working Methodology: The research is of retrospective, descriptive, qualitative type. The material was   taken from the archive of the Emergency Clinic of UCCK for the period January-December 2019. Only the sick or injured in sports matches were taken in the research; Age, gender, type of illness and injury and type of medical care, equipment available and training and education.

Result: Sports injuries are very costly, and according to the pathology with diseases were 15 cases or 21.4 %, injuries were 55 cases or 78/6 %. Injured by age The largest number of injured with injuries in the field of football sports the most affected age was the age of 21-25 years with 28 cases or 40.00%, over 25 years were 27 cases or 38.58% and with a smaller number were aged 15-20 years15 cases or 21.42%.

Discussion and Conclusions: A very important factor in sports injuries is the provision of optimal medical care for footballers and other sports in head, neck, spine, chest, abdomen, and pelvis and limb injuries and with a joint communication with the cooperation of health care professionals in selection of priority cases. Education of medical staff, nurses, paramedics with courses, use of medical equipment, BLS (Basic Life Support), ACLS (Advanced cardiac Life Support), BTLS (Basic  Trauma Life Support), PHTLS, ATLS (Prehospital Trauma Life support),  as well as standard procedures for providing and transporting medical care to the hospital.

Background: The benefits of telemedicine services are very important to society to improve the quality and accessibility of health in the healthcare delivery system and method of medical education and exchanges knowledge and experiences. However, the number of service provision sites is limited, and it cannot be accessed, and the service is not used by the majority of the community due to inadequate information and sub-standard communication facilities and under-evolution of the importance of by both public and medical profession and other various factors in Yemen. The health sector in Yemen has grown significantly through the increase in the number of hospitals, health units, health centers, family and medical staff. Despite the country's orientation towards developing and improving the health sector, Yemen is still among the countries that suffer from many health problems especially with regard to quality and distribution of facilities and diseases.

Objective: The aim of this research is to explore one of the first experiences in the use of telemedicine in Yemen by clarifying cases that benefit from telemedicine and exploring the potential for development of network of TM to serve areas which lack sub-specialty services.

Methods: The first stage of experience of TM services in Yemen goes back to 1997. At that time we joined a newly established international company based in the USA with several offices in different countries. We got a huge, expensive digitizer that was supposed to transfer medical reports to second opinion sites in USA, UK Jordan etc. The second stage continued few years later utilizing the free service, namely Swinfen based in UK. In which 300 cases were involved and benefit from TM services in the first and second stages.

Results: The majority of the participants in the cases presented benefited from the correct decision of management and treatment, and few travel arrangements were made for cases requiring travel.

Conclusion and Recommendation: This study revealed that telemedicine services are generally underutilized in Yemen despite good results in our cases. Technical, administrative, and legal issues should be discussed in Yemen. Factors such as technological barriers to internet connectivity and system reliability must also be considered. Knowing and identifying the factors is vital for considering in-depth future studies and taking appropriate measures to fix the problems faced TM in Yemen.

The classic and most common method of treating malignant tumors of the eyelids is surgical, which involves local excision of the tumor with a simultaneous reconstructive-restorative stage.

Almost all authors use a graft from the auricle as a graft for the reconstruction of defects in the skin and cartilaginous plate of the eyelid. The autograft is easily modeled in thickness and curvature. To restore the conjunctival cavity, we propose to use a lyophilized amniotic membrane.

The results of surgical treatment of 10 patients with ulcerative form of basal cell carcinoma of the lower eyelid, the stage of the disease according to TNM classification (2009) - T2a-3aN0M0 for the period 2015-2019 are presented.

By 12-14 days of the postoperative period, the engraftment of the skin flap was observed. Epithelial cells from the conjunctival fornix moved to the cartilaginous surface of the graft covered with a lyophilized amniotic membrane, which was confirmed by the results of a cytological study.

The use of a lyophilized amniotic membrane ensures the formation of the conjunctival cavity and obtains a good anatomical effect during reconstructive operations on the lower eyelid.

In this case study, the author analyzed, predicted, and interpreted a type 2 diabetes (T2D) patient’s hemoglobin A1C variances based on seven periods data utilizing the GH-Method: math-physical medicine approach.

Background: The World Health Organization (WHO) has endorsed a sequence of preventive measures to terminate the spread of coronavirus diseases and its associated morbidity and mortality all over the world. In Nigeria, these preventive measures have been adopted, on the side of media campaigns to disseminate facts of the measures to the general public.

Aim: To investigate the awareness level of preventive measure and preventive practices of COVID-19 amongst Adekunle Ajasin University students.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey studies design was used. 800 undergraduate students in Adekunle Ajasin University represent the sample. Descriptive and inferential statistics of frequency counts, percentages and Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient (PPMCC) was used to analyze the findings at 0.05 alpha level

Conclusion: Adekunle Ajasin University students have high awareness and high level of preventive practices about COVID-19 preventive measures. The major source of information was from the Nigeria Center for Disease control (NCDC) website. Also, there is a relationship between awareness level and preventive practices of COVID-19 preventive measures r (798) = 0.378, p <0.01. It was therefore recommended that the NCDC should be further strengthened by the Federal Government to continually disseminate health information concerning COVID-19 preventive measures since it is the major source which in turn will encourage preventive practices.

In this paper, the author described his two years research results, from 5/5/2018 through 5/29/2020, to identify a neural communication model between the brain’s cerebral cortex and certain internal organs such as the stomach, liver, and pancreas. He researched the postprandial plasma glucose (PPG) production amount at different timing via investigation of waveform differences between pan-fried egg, solid meal, and egg drop soup, liquid meal.

Peliosis hepatis (PH) is a rare liver disorder which is characterized by formation of multiple blood-filled cysts within the liver parenchyma. These Blood lakes are of various sizes within the liver, and may be continuous It is a usually seen in adults following exogenous steroid intake. Very rarely, it occurs in children. Storage disorders and Congestive Heart Failure are among the common causes of heaptomegaly in a neonate.  This case report describes the presence of Peliosis Hepatis in a 16 day old neonate secondary to an adrenal nodular hyperplasia. This is a very rare case report as it describes an uncommon condition, Peliosis Hepatis, presenting as hepatomegaly secondary to endogenous steroid production.

Background: The use of insecticide treated bed nets has proven to be an effective method of reducing malaria attack and mortality associated with it. Malaria in pregnancy has being proven to be one of the major causes of maternal deaths in Nigeria and sub-Sahara African, despite all the efforts and measures taken to put a stop to it. It is very important to comprehensively understand knowledge and various factors that affect utilization of ITBNs among pregnant women so that respective programs are implemented more effectively, though studies have been conducted in the past on this subject in some areas but outside Mbaitoli L.G.A., Imo State.

Methods: This cross-sectional research study was carried out to assess knowledge and use of insecticide treated bed net among pregnant women in Comprehensive Primary Health Centre Nwaorieubi Mbaitoli, L.G.A, Imo State, Nigeria. The target population was 1358 registered pregnant women who attended ante natal care during the six months of the study (June – November 2019). A sample size of three hundred and nine (309) was gotten through use of Taro Yamane sample size determination. The study sample size was thus drawn by using simple random sampling technique. A self- constructed and structured questionnaire was used to collect data. Reliability of the instrument was achieved through a test re-test method which yielded a high positive correlation coefficient of 0.93. The data collected were analyzed using frequencies, percentages and chi-square test and were presented in tables.

Findings: The result showed that 65.4% of the respondents had adequate knowledge of insecticide treated bed nets (ITBNs).  Majority (73.8%) of the respondents claimed that they had own insecticide treated bed nets but very few (33.3%) of them use it with a few (15.5%) using it always. Major factors that hindered the use of insecticide treated bed nets were inconvenience (exercise heat, chemical irritation), nonchalant behaviour, not having enough insecticide treated bed nets and problem hanging the net. Age of the respondents, level of education, number of pregnancies, age of pregnancies and knowledge of insecticide treated bed nets significantly influence the use of insecticide treated bed nets among the respondents. There is also significant relationship between the level of education of respondents and knowledge of insecticide treated bed nets. Also, use of insecticide treated bed nets is significantly associated with age, level of education, number of pregnancies, and age of pregnancy.

Conclusion: Although there is increased knowledge of insecticide treated bed nets but it is still below expectation of about 98%. Also few utilize it which was hindered by some factors.

Recommendation: To make insecticide treated bed nets accessible, both the government and health workers need to increase the insecticide treated bed nets’ knowledge and usage campaign via health education at all the levels of educational system. 

Background: Understanding the determinants of choice of contraceptives is very critical especially in population where heterogeneous socio-cultural factors play an important role. A contraceptive choice that couples make is a key component of the Sustainable Development Goal agenda and a major contributor to national health. The issues which impact women’s reproductive health rights in relation to contraception relate to socio-demographic variables like age, education, family size, religion, occupation etc. This study thus explores the influence of such socio-demographic data on the choice of contraceptives among women in Akpulu, Ideato North Local Government Area, Imo State, Nigeria.

Methods: A cross sectional study was used in this quantitative research to generate data on contraceptive choices of women in Akpulu. A structured questionnaire was used to elicit information from 481 respondents who were randomly sampled at their different villages and kindreds. Descriptive and non-parametric statistics of chi-square test were used in the data analyses and results were presented using tables.

Results: The findings of the study revealed that 21.4% of the respondents use fertility awareness method as their choice of contraceptives. Very few (26.4%) of the respondents opined that they always use contraceptives. Findings also established that age, level of education, number of children, religious affiliation and occupation of the respondents play a significant role in the choice of contraceptives among the women in Akpulu, Ideato North Local Government Area, Imo State, Nigeria.

Conclusion: The result of the study indicated that the socio–demographic data of the respondents has a significant role in the choice of contraceptives among the women in Akpulu, Ideato North Local Government Area, Imo State, Nigeria.

Recommendation: The study recommends comprehensive education of the women on the benefits of each method of contraception for adoption of better choice of contraceptives among these women. There is also need to clarify religious misconception about family planning methods by seeking the active collaboration and support of religious leaders.

The bites caused by mammalian teeth are characterized by strong tissue kneading between the jaws, laceration of the skin and deep tooth penetration. The outside of the wound can give an impression of the incoming wound of the tooth, the laceration of the skin, and the avulsion of entire pieces of tissue. Regardless of the external appearance of the wound, it should be kept in mind that the tissue under the skin was exposed to vigorous kneading and cleavage.

Background: Preterm birth is defined as a delivery which occurs at less than 37 weeks completed of gestation. The majority of preterm birth remains vulnerable to long term complications that may persist all over their lives. Globally, about 12.9 million births (9.6%) of all births worldwide were preterm and of these more than 60% of preterm births occur in Africa and South Asia while about 0.5 million were in each of Europe and North America. There is limited evidence on magnitude of preterm birth and associated factors, among women attending delivery service at public hospitals of low income countries like Ethiopia including the study setting, Harar town.

Objective: To assess magnitude of Preterm Birth and Associated Factors among Mother Who Gave Birth in Public Health Hospitals in Harar Town Eastern Ethiopia, 2019.

Methods and Material: Institutional based cross-sectional study was conducted on 325 women attending delivery service in Harar public hospitals. Structured questionnaires were used to collect data; systematic sampling technique also used to select participants. A total of three data collectors and one supervisor were participated on the study. The data was entered to SPSS version 22.0 for analysis. Pretest, double data entry and local language translation are used to assure data quality .The descriptive and logistic analysis was employed. To measure the strength of association between dependent and independent variables, Crude and Adjusted Odd Ratios with 95% Confidence interval was calculated. Finally, the variable which shows p-value < 0.05 considered as statistically significance.

Result: The study show that the magnitude of preterm birth was 24.9% (95%CI 21.0, 29.8).Women who didn’t attend ANC (AOR=1.5, 95% CI: 0.7, 2.3), history of ante partum hemorrhage (AOR=1.3, 95% CI: 0.2, 2.7), hemoglobin less than eleven (AOR=1.4, 95% CI: 0.2, 2.2) and  birth interval less than 24 months (AOR=1.3, 95% CI: 0.4, 2.3) and history of chronic disease (AOR=1.3, 95% CI: 0.4, 2.3) were significantly associated with outcome variable.

Conclusion and Recommendation: The prevalence of preterm birth in Harar town public health hospitals is slightly higher than studies done in different parts of Ethiopia. Not attending ANC, short inter pregnancy interval (<24 months), previous history of APH, Presence of chronic medical illness and low hemoglobin level (<11g/dl) were found to be statistically significant with the occurrence of preterm birth in current pregnancy therefore effort need to improve on it

The author describes his 24-year history of type 2 diabetes (T2D) and effectiveness on diabetes control via medications and lifestyle management. In1995, the author began having T2D conditions and started taking metformin three years later.  His physician continued to increase his dosage and added three new drugs to control his elevated glucose level.  From the period of 1991 to 2010, he suffered five cardiac episodes. In July of 2010, his average glucose value had risen to 280 mg/dL; HbA1C was 10%, ACR reached to 116.4, and triglycerides increased to 1,161.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to assess the COVID-19 information-seeking behavior (COVID-19 ISB) among parents in times of uncertainty and its potential association with anxiety symptoms.

Methods: Using a web-based cross-sectional survey, 306 self-selected parents participated in the study with complete responses towards the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item (GAD-7) scale and COVID-19 ISB variables. Descriptive, correlation and regression analyses were applied.

Results: During the COVID-19 outbreak in Bahrain, about 18% of responding parents had moderate-severe anxiety symptoms (score ≥10 on GAD-7). The mean GAD score was 5.76±4.7.  Generally, females scored a mean of (6.84±4.8), which is higher than males (4.41±4.3), (t[304] = -4.59, p ˂ .001). Participants’ utmost priority, when they sought COVID-19 information, was to know about “how to apply a proper self-quarantine”. The most relied on source for COVID-19 information was “social media accounts of health organizations”. The most restricting obstacles for seeking COVID-19 information were the “spread of rumors” and the “massive information about the disease”. The frequency of exposure to COVID-19 information was significantly associated with GAD (r[304] = 0.25, p ˂ .001). 75% of participants were satisfied with the current possibilities of acquiring COVID-19 information. This factor of satisfaction was an independent predictor for GAD, OR: 4.2 [95% CI 2.2-7.8], p ˂ 0.001.

Conclusion: The patterns and characteristics of parents’ COVID-19 ISB have the potential to influence the severity of anxiety symptoms among parents and vice versa. During epidemics, measures and strategies to reinforce a wise parent’s ISB and mitigate their anxieties must be a public health priority.

Background: The emergence of viral microscopic organism has thrown the global world into an indefinite suspension till date. However, in December 2019, a cluster of people linked to a seafood wholesale market in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China, presented with pneumonia of unknown cause. A previously unknown betacoronavirus was isolated from the pneumonia patients as the causative virus. The infection has spread across the various continents of the world, causing an alarming number of deaths daily. Interestingly, Africa as a continent with inadequate healthcare infrastructure is faced with a big challenge of containing this deadly disease.

Aim: To enlighten the public on the healthcare challenges in Africa amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, and to stimulate the need for the development of   robust healthcare infrastructure in the continent.

Methodology: Published research articles focusing on the COVID-19 pandemic and some previous outbreaks were systematically reviewed. The studies reviewed outcome comprises of observational and cross-sectional studies targeted on the above subject matter respectively.

Findings: Key findings revealed that the infection has an incubation period of 1-14 days, during which the viral particles can be transmitted via respiratory droplets from an infected individual to susceptible subjects especially, those with weak immunity and the elderly. It presents with symptoms resembling those of viral pneumonia such as fever, cough, dyspnoea, myalgia, fatigue, etc. The virus primarily attacks the lungs where it causes fibrosis, and in critical cases, it can cause death by multiple organ failure, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), shock, etc. So far, there is no specific treatment or vaccine for the illness. Hence, early detection and treatment of symptoms are the most potent means of helping patients recover in good time. Detection of viral RNA in patients’ respiratory samples by real-time Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (rRT-PCR) serves as the confirmatory diagnostic procedure to detect the virus. Some countries with top and robust healthcare systems are obviously struggling to contain the outbreak, and most countries have adopted a partial or complete lockdown, as well as public health measures such as social distancing, quarantine, isolation and community containment strategy, to delay the spread of the virus and protect the healthcare systems.

Conclusion/Recommendation: There is an immediate need for African countries to develop their healthcare infrastructure to contain the current outbreak of COVID-19 and possibly future occurrences.