Medication Adherence of Vietnamese Outpatients with Chronic Diseases during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The purpose of this study was to determine the medication adherence of outpatients with chronic diseases and the association between both patient attitudes and preventive practices regarding COVID-19 and their medication adherence. We performed a cross-sectional study in Vietnam. Medication adherence was determined using the translated and validated Vietnamese version of the General Medication Adherence Scale (GMAS).

Cascade of care of people diagnosed with HIV in New Zealand between 2006 and 2017.

Objectives: We estimated the proportion of people reported with HIV in New Zealand between 2006 and 2017, and alive in 2017-2019, who were on antiretroviral therapy (ART) and had a suppressed viral load (VL), and explored their associated characteristics.

Methods: Data were anonymously linked to information on ART and VL within the data collection period (January 2017 to August 2019) using the National Health Index (NHI), Ministry of Health and laboratory datasets, as well as information from clinical specialists. Logistic regression was used to test for associations.

Dynamics of nasopharyngeal bacterial colonisation in HIV-exposed young infants in Tanzania.

Objectives: To estimate the prevalence of nasopharyngeal bacterial colonisation (NPBC) patterns in young Tanzanian HIV-exposed infants and to analyse the influence of maternal NPBC and of the infant's HIV status on the NPBC pattern.

Methods: Longitudinal cohort study of neonates born to HIV-infected mothers visiting Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre, Tanzania, between 2005 and 2009. Demographic and clinical data and nasopharyngeal bacterial cultures were obtained at the age of 6 weeks, 3 and 6 months, and at one time point, a paired mother-infant nasopharyngeal swab was taken.

Prevalence of lipodystrophy in HIV-infected children in Tanzania on highly active antiretroviral therapy.

Objective: Highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) has been associated with lipodystrophy (LD) in adults but data are more limited for children. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of and risk factors for LD in Tanzanian children receiving HAART by clinical assessment and to compare the results with anthropometric data.

Design And Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed in a cohort of HIV-infected children aged 1-18 years receiving HAART in a single center in Moshi, Tanzania.

Total lymphocyte count is a good marker for HIV-related mortality and can be used as a tool for starting HIV treatment in a resource-limited setting.

Objectives: Total lymphocyte counts (TLC) may be used as an alternative for CD4 cell counts to monitor HIV infection in resource-limited settings, where CD4 cell counts are too expensive or not available.

Methods: We used prospectively collected patient data from an urban HIV clinic in Indonesia. Predictors of mortality were identified via Cox regression, and the relation between TLC and CD4 cell counts was calculated by linear regression.

Genetic polymorphisms in GSTA1, GSTP1, GSTT1, and GSTM1 and gastric cancer risk in a Vietnamese population.

Glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) are a family of enzymes involved in the detoxification of noxious agents. Genes encoding for GSTA1, GSTP1, GSTT1, and GSTM1 proteins are polymorphic in humans, which can result in (partial) loss of enzyme activity. Previous epidemiologic studies have associated dysfunction of these GST genes with a higher risk of cancer, but this is still controversial.

Comparing vaginal and sublingual administration of misoprostol for labour induction in women with intra-uterine fetal death.

The objective of this study was to compare complications and effectiveness of induction after vaginal and sublingual administration of misoprostol for labor induction in women with intra-uterine fetal death (IUFD). In a district hospital in Ghana, 23 women with IUFD who underwent labor induction with sublingual misoprostol were compared with a control group of 21 women who received vaginal misoprostol. In the vaginal group 28.

Barriers to access to antiretroviral treatment in developing countries: a review.

Objective: To present a review of barriers impeding people living with HIV/AIDS in developing countries from accessing treatment, and to make recommendations for further studies.

Methods: Electronic databases, websites of main global agencies and international AIDS conferences were searched for relevant articles published between 1996 and 2007. Articles were reviewed using the Andersen and May framework of access to health services and barriers were categorized as either population-level or health system-level barriers.

Optimizing antibiotic usage in adults admitted with fever by a multifaceted intervention in an Indonesian governmental hospital.

Objective: To optimize antimicrobial treatment of patients with fever upon admission to the department of internal medicine of Dr Soetomo Hospital in Surabaya, Indonesia.

Method: Prospective intervention study. The intervention comprised development of a consensus guideline, an official declaration of the guideline by the head of department, distributing a guideline pocketbook, carrying out blood cultures free of charge, teaching sessions and refresher courses.

A survey of the supply and bacteriologic quality of drinking water and sanitation in Jakarta, Indonesia.

We assessed the water supply, water quality and human waste disposal and their association with diarrheal illness in Jatinegara, East-Jakarta, where part of the area has been involved in the Kampung Improvement Program (KIP). Three hundred seventy-eight households, randomly selected in the study area, were visited and questioned about water source, sanitation and diarrheal illness during the previous 3 months. Microbiological quality of drinking water was assessed.

Helicobacter pylori infection and typhoid fever in Jakarta, Indonesia.

We evaluated the association between typhoid fever and Helicobacter pylori infection, as the latter microorganism may influence gastric acid secretion and consequently increase susceptibility to Salmonella typhi infection. Anti-H. pylori IgG and IgA antibody titres (ELISA) and gastrin concentration (RIA) were determined in the plasma of 87 blood culture-confirmed typhoid fever cases (collected after clinical recovery) and 232 random healthy controls without a history of typhoid fever, in the Jatinegara district, Jakarta.

Identification of typhoid fever and paratyphoid fever cases at presentation in outpatient clinics in Jakarta, Indonesia.

In Jakarta, Indonesia, over 80% of patients with typhoid fever or paratyphoid fever are treated in outpatient settings. In a community-based prospective passive surveillance study, we identified 59 typhoid, 23 paratyphoid fever and 259 non-enteric fever outpatients, all blood culture-confirmed. We compared their symptoms with the aim of developing a clinical prediction rule that may help direct empirical antibiotic treatment to cases with suspected (para)typhoid fever, rather than all febrile patients, or refer patients for additional diagnostic tests.

Risk factors for transmission of foodborne illness in restaurants and street vendors in Jakarta, Indonesia.

In a previous risk factor study in Jakarta we identified purchasing street food as an independent risk factor for paratyphoid. Eating from restaurants, however, was not associated with disease. To explain these findings we compared 128 street food-vendors with 74 food handlers from restaurants in a cross-sectional study in the same study area.

Risk factors for typhoid and paratyphoid fever in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Context: The proportion of paratyphoid fever cases to typhoid fever cases may change due to urbanization and increased dependency on food purchased from street vendors. For containment of paratyphoid a different strategy may be needed than for typhoid, because risk factors for disease may not coincide and current typhoid vaccines do not protect against paratyphoid fever.

Objective: To determine risk factors for typhoid and paratyphoid fever in an endemic area.

A randomised controlled trial of care of the perineum during second stage of normal labour.

Objective: To compare the effect of two methods of perineal management used during spontaneous vaginal delivery on the prevalence of perineal pain reported at 10 days after birth.

Design: Randomised controlled trial.

Setting: Two English maternity care units.

Improved injection practices after the introduction of treatment and sterility guidelines in Tanzania.

Objective: To evaluate the effect of introduction of treatment and sterilization guidelines on the number of avoidable injections and on the sterility of needles and syringes.

Methods: In 1991, 66 randomly selected health units in Mwanza Region, Tanzania, were visited and factors were determined that might contribute to HIV transmission by injections. In a workshop with all senior health workers from the region, findings were presented and treatment and sterilization guidelines developed.

The aetiology of low birthweight in a rural area of Tanzania.

In a hospital-based study, birthweights of 3162 consecutive births were related to perinatal mortality, multiple birth, and gestational age. Independent associations between 15 potential determinants and low birthweight, prematurity and small-at-term factors were also assessed. A newly constructed local curve of birthweight-for-gestational age is compared with the existing curves.

Injection practices in Mwanza Region, Tanzania: prescriptions, patient demand and sterility.

This paper describes prescription and sterilization practices in Mwanza Region, Tanzania, before the introduction of interventions aiming at reducing HIV transmission by injections. Sixty-six health facilities from Mwanza Region were included in the study. Data were collected in interviews and questionnaires, through structured observation, bacteriological culture and record analysis.

Single pre-delivery symphysis-fundal height measurement as a predictor of birthweight and multiple pregnancy.

Objective: To compare the value of different pre-delivery maternal indices for predicting birthweight, and to examine the usefulness of a single pre-delivery symphysis-fundal height measurement for the detection of low birthweight and twin pregnancy or macrosomia.

Design: Symphysis-fundal height measurements were gathered from 1509 women who had both a singleton delivery and available data of pre-delivery weight, height and mid-upper arm circumference, and from 73 women who had a twin delivery.

Setting: A district hospital in rural Tanzania.

Changes in blood transfusion practices after the introduction of consensus guidelines in Mwanza region, Tanzania.

Objective: To assess the effect of introducing consensus guidelines on avoidable blood transfusions in Mwanza region, Tanzania.

Methods: Avoidable blood transfusions were determined among 842 blood transfusion recipients in eight hospitals in 1991. In a workshop with senior health workers from the region, consensus guidelines for the prescription of blood transfusions were developed and introduced in the hospitals and after 7 months intervention data were collected on 1042 blood transfusion recipients.

Blood transfusion practices in Mwanza Region, Tanzania. Bugando Medical Centre.

Objective: To determine what proportion of blood transfusions given in Mwanza Region, Tanzania could be avoided.

Methods: A total of 1029 patients who received a blood transfusion in one of eight hospitals were analysed. Two sets of criteria for avoidable blood transfusions were determined, on the basis of a literature review.