Immediate postnatal care guidelines implementation and associated factors among healthcare providers in East Shewa zone public health facilities, Oromia, Ethiopia, 2022: a multicentre cross-sectional study.

Objectives: Immediate postnatal care is a critical intervention to reduce maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality; however, many women and newborns receive inadequate postnatal care timely and effectively during the first 24 hours following childbirth. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the immediate postnatal care guidelines implementation and its associated factors among healthcare providers in the East Shewa zone public health facilities, Oromia, Ethiopia.

Design: Facility-based cross-sectional study was conducted from 13 September 2022 to 28 October 2022.

Surgical site infection prevention practice and associated factors among nurses working at public hospitals of the western part of southern nation, nationalities, and peoples' region, Ethiopia: A cross-sectional study.

Background: Surgical site infection is a major hazard for surgical patients and compromises their quality of life. Its effect is higher in developing countries compared to developed countries. Most of the studies done in Ethiopia regarding surgical site infection prevention practice on nurses who were not directly exposed to wound care, thus it produces less reliable results.

Relationship between orthostatic hypotension and cognitive impairment in the elderly.

Background And Purpose: To determine the relationship between orthostatic hypotension (OH) and cognitive function in elderly subjects with memory complaints.

Methods: We studied the association between cognitive function and OH in 495 consecutive elderly outpatients attending a memory centre. Blood pressure (BP) was measured in a sitting and standing position.

Definition of ambulatory blood pressure targets for diagnosis and treatment of hypertension in relation to clinic blood pressure: prospective cohort study.

Background: Twenty-four hour ambulatory blood pressure thresholds have been defined for the diagnosis of mild hypertension but not for its treatment or for other blood pressure thresholds used in the diagnosis of moderate to severe hypertension. We aimed to derive age and sex related ambulatory blood pressure equivalents to clinic blood pressure thresholds for diagnosis and treatment of hypertension.

Methods: We collated 24 hour ambulatory blood pressure data, recorded with validated devices, from 11 centres across six Australian states (n=8575).

Leishmania donovani-induced expression of signal regulatory protein alpha on Kupffer cells enhances hepatic invariant NKT-cell activation.

Signal regulatory protein alpha (SIRPalpha) and its cognate ligand CD47 have been documented to have a broad range of cellular functions in development and immunity. Here, we investigated the role of SIRPalpha-CD47 signalling in invariant NKT (iNKT) cell responses. We found that CD47 was required for the optimal production of IFN-gamma from splenic iNKT cells following exposure to the alphaGalCer analogue PBS-57 and in vivo infection of mice with Leishmania donovani.

Outcomes of laparoscopic adrenalectomy for hyperaldosteronism.

Background: Primary hyperaldosteronism is a frequent cause of resistant hypertension and is amenable to surgical intervention when caused by a unilateral aldosterone-producing adenoma. The aim of this study was to investigate the long-term results of laparoscopic adrenalectomy in the control of hypertension caused by primary hyperaldosteronism.

Methods: A prospective case series of patients undergoing laparoscopic adrenalectomy for hyperaldosteronism was studied.

Relationship between antihypertensive drug therapy and cognitive function in elderly hypertensive patients with memory complaints.

Objective: To evaluate the relationship between antihypertensive treatments and cognitive function in elderly hypertensive patients with memory complaints.

Methods: The association between cognitive function and antihypertensive drug therapy was studied in 1241 hypertensive elderly patients with memory complaints attending a geriatric outpatient clinic. Cognitive function was assessed using the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) and validated neuropsychological tests (Cognitive Efficiency Profile; CEP).

Lack of sphygmomanometer calibration causes over- and under-detection of hypertension: a computer simulation study.

Objective: To estimate the contribution of inadequate sphygmomanometer calibration to over- and under-detection of hypertension.

Design: Monte Carlo simulation of the measurement of blood pressure (BP) of a population with calibrated and uncalibrated sphygmomanometers. Simulated BP measurements included systematic sphygmomanometer error and random variability.

Long-term effectiveness of extended-release nitrate for the treatment of systolic hypertension.

Isosorbide mononitrate (ISMN) is effective in the short-term for decreasing systolic blood pressure, pulse pressure, and pulse wave reflection in patients with systolic hypertension. To determine whether tolerance negates the efficacy of this nitrate in the long-term, a placebo-controlled study was performed in which ISMN was withdrawn briefly in a group of patients (n=16) who had received extended-release ISMN 60 to 120 mg once daily for 16 to 109 months. Blood pressure and wave reflection were determined by 24-hour ambulatory recorder and tonometer, respectively.

C-reactive protein levels following standard neurosurgical procedures.

Background: The aim of the present study was to establish the magnitude and time-course of C-reactive protein increases following routine neurosurgical procedures in the absence of clinical and laboratory signs of infection.

Method: C-reactive protein levels were studied daily following ventriculo-peritoneal shunt implantation, anterior cervical fusion, vestibular schwannoma operation, supratentorial glioma surgery, endovascular intracranial aneurysm treatment and open cerebral aneurysm surgery.

Findings: The magnitude of the C-reactive protein increase depended on the extent of surgical trauma and peak-levels were recorded between postoperative day one and four after which the levels tapered off.

Continuous positive airway pressure treatment improves pulmonary hemodynamics in patients with obstructive sleep apnea.

Daytime pulmonary hypertension (PH) is relatively common in obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and is thought to be associated with pulmonary vascular remodeling (PRm). The extent to which PH is reversible with treatment is uncertain. To study this, we measured pulmonary hemodynamics (Doppler echocardiography) in 20 patients with OSA (apnea-hypopnea index [AHI] 48.

Mice lacking tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (Acp 5) have disordered macrophage inflammatory responses and reduced clearance of the pathogen, Staphylococcus aureus.

Tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP) is a lysosomal di-iron protein of mononuclear phagocytes and osteoclasts. Hitherto, no role for the enzyme in immunity has been identified; however, knockout mice lacking TRAP have a skeletal phenotype caused by an intrinsic osteoclast defect. To investigate a putative function for TRAP in macrophages (Mphi), we investigated proinflammatory responses and systemic microbial clearance in knockout mice compared with age- and gender-matched congenic wild-type mice.

Intrinsic ferroelectric coercive field.

The Landau-Ginzburg theory of ferroelectricity predicts the intrinsic coercive field for polarization reversal, but the observed extrinsic coercive field is always much smaller as a result of nucleation, dynamic processes not covered by the static theory. We have realized the intrinsic coercive field for the first time, in two-dimensional Langmuir-Blodgett polymer films as thin as 1 nm. The measured coercive field is in good agreement with the theoretical intrinsic value, exhibits the expected dependence on temperature, and does not depend on thickness below 15 nm.

Widespread expression of tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (Acp 5) in the mouse embryo.

Tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP, Acp 5) is considered to be a marker of the osteoclast and studies using 'knockout' mice have demonstrated that TRAP is critical for normal development of the skeleton. To investigate the distribution of TRAP in the mammalian embryo, cryostat sections of 18 d murine fetuses were examined by in situ hybridisation, immunohistochemistry and histochemical reactions in situ. Abundant expression of TRAP mRNA was observed in the skin and epithelial surfaces of the tongue, oropharynx and gastrointestinal tract including the colon, as well as the thymus, ossifying skeleton and dental papillae.

Osteoclastic tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (Acp 5): its localization to dendritic cells and diverse murine tissues.

Tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP) is a histochemical marker of the osteoclast. It is also characteristic of monohistiocytes, particularly alveolar macrophages, and is associated with diverse pathological conditions, including hairy cell leukemia and AIDS encephalopathy. To study the biology of this enzyme, we investigated its expression and activity in mouse tissues.

Low-dose diuretic and/or dietary sodium restriction when blood pressure is resistant to ACE inhibitor.

Aim: To compare the efficacy of indapamide (1.25 mg daily) and low-salt diet (<100 mmol/day) separately and in combination in essential hypertensive patients with inadequate BP response to perindopril.

Design And Methods: Randomized double-blind, double-dummy, crossover design.

Daytime pulmonary hemodynamics in patients with obstructive sleep apnea without lung disease.

It is controversial whether obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) causes pulmonary hypertension (PH) in the absence of hypoxemic lung disease. To investigate this further we measured awake pulmonary hemodynamics, pulmonary gas exchange, and small airways function in 32 patients with OSA (apnea- hypopnea index, mean +/- SE, 46.2 +/- 3.

Lacidipine, hydrochlorothiazide and their combination in systolic hypertension in the elderly.

Objective: To compare with placebo the efficacies of once-daily administrations of lacidipine and hydrochlorothiazide separately and in combination to elderly patients with systolic hypertension.

Design And Methods: Nineteen elderly subjects (five men and 14 women, median age 71 years, range 62-79 years) participated in the study, which had a randomized double-blind crossover design. For each subject there were four treatment phases, each of duration 4 weeks.

A comparison of two long-acting vasoselective calcium antagonists in pulmonary hypertension secondary to COPD.

Unlabelled: STUDY OBJECTIVES AND PATIENTS: Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is common in COPD and may predict mortality in this disorder. We have compared the pulmonary vasodilator effects, dose-response characteristics, and tolerability of two calcium channel blockers, amlodipine and extended-release (ER) felodipine, in 10 patients (seven men, age 68+/-4.8 [SD] years) with clinically stable COPD and PH.

Differential responses to challenge with live and dead Mycobacterium bovis Bacillus Calmette-Guérin.

Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccination has been shown to protect against challenge with virulent Mycobacterium tuberculosis in a range of experimental animal models: in each case, protective efficacy requires vaccination with live bacteria. With the goal of moving to a new generation of safer, nonliving vaccines, efforts have been made to identify the factors that determine the efficacy of live vaccination. We show that injection of live, but not dead, BCG induces localized swelling in the mouse footpad model.

Inhibition of tetrahydrobiopterin synthesis reduces in vivo nitric oxide production in experimental endotoxic shock.

Nitric oxide synthesis requires the cofactor tetrahydrobiopterin. We have examined the effect on nitric oxide synthesis in experimental endotoxic shock of 2,4- diamino-6-hydroxypyrimidine (DAHP), an inhibitor of GTP cyclohydrolase I, the first and rate limiting enzyme for tetrahydrobiopterin synthesis. Rats given lipopolysaccharide (LPS, 10 mg/kg) showed a large rise in plasma nitrate at 4 and 8 hours which was significantly reduced by DAHP (1 g/kg) given at the same time as LPS.

Inhibition of tetrahydrobiopterin synthesis reduces nitric oxide production by isolated glomeruli in immune complex glomerulonephritis.

We studied the effect of modulators of tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4) synthesis on the production of nitrite by glomeruli from rats with immune complex-mediated glomerular inflammation. Glomeruli were isolated 24 h after induction of accelerated nephrotoxic nephritis and cultured at 2,000/ml for 48 h. Lipopolysaccharide dose dependently increased ex vivo nitrite production.

Effect of indomethacin on blood pressure control during treatment with nitrendipine.

This study tested the hypothesis that treatment with a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug will not alter the hypotensive effect of a dihydropyridine calcium channel antagonist. Fifteen essential hypertensives (ages 58-80 years) had a supine diastolic blood pressure (DBP) < 100 mmHg after 4 weeks monotherapy with nitrendipine 5-20 mg twice daily. They entered a double-blind randomised crossover study in which the addition of indomethacin 25 mg three times daily was compared with placebo in treatment phases each of 4 weeks duration.

L-arginine depletion by arginase reduces nitric oxide production in endotoxic shock: an electron paramagnetic resonance study.

Nitric oxide (NO) synthesis was measured in the liver, lung, spleen and kidney of lipopolysaccharide-treated male rats using the nitric oxide spin trap, iron (II)-diethyldithiocarbamate (FeDETC2). Nitric oxide formation in vivo was determined by the increase in intensity of the characteristic triplet hyperfine EPR spectrum of [NO-FeDETC2]. Intravenous bovine liver arginase, at a dose which completely depleted circulating arginine, significantly reduced the formation of nitric oxide in these tissues.