COVID-19 vaccination uptake among healthcare workers in Ghana: A comprehensive analysis of knowledge, attitude, perceived vaccine effectiveness, and health belief model constructs.

The novel Coronavirus Disease 19 (COVID-19) caused devastating effects globally, and healthcare workers were among the most affected by the pandemic. Despite healthcare workers being prioritized in COVID-19 vaccination globally and in Ghana, hesitancy to receive the vaccines resulted in delayed control of the pandemic. In Ghana, healthcare workers had a vaccine acceptance of 39.

Analysis of glucagon-like peptide 1; what to measure?

Background: Glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) is a gut hormone which acts as an incretin and is therefore of major interest in treatment of type II diabetes mellitus. GLP-1 circulates in many different forms, some of which are biologically active and others are not. Our hypothesis was that various methods to measure GLP-1 detect different forms of GLP-1, which may cause confusion when comparing results.

Performance of free beta-human chorionic gonadotrophin (free beta-hCG) and pregnancy associated plasma protein-A (PAPP-A) analysis between Delfia Xpress and AutoDelfia systems in The Netherlands.

Background: The VU University Medical Center (VUmc) was the first hospital in the Netherlands to introduce the Delfia Xpress for the analysis of free beta-human chorionic gonadotrophin (beta-hCG) and pregnancy associated plasma protein-A (PAPP-A) in the first trimester screening program for Down syndrome. Since then, others have implemented this system. In this study, we tested the equality of measurements for free beta-hCG and PAPP-A between Delfia Xpress systems and one AutoDelfia system.

The effect of colic on oxygen extraction in horses.

Blood oxygen transport and oxygen extraction were assessed in horses with colic. A gravity score (GS) ranging from 1 to 3 was attributed to each colic case with healthy horses used as controls. Jugular venous and carotid arterial blood samples were collected and concentrations of 2,3-diphosphoglycerate, adenosine triphosphate, inorganic phosphate and chloride were determined.

The oxyhemoglobin dissociation curve in liver cirrhosis.

Study Objectives: To trace the entire oxyhemoglobin dissociation curve (ODC) in a cohort of cirrhotic patients in stable condition who were candidates for orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT).

Design: Prospective cohort study.

Setting: A large academic hospital.

Effects of intravenous infusions of sodium bicarbonate on blood oxygen binding in calves with diarrhoea.

Twelve diarrhoeic calves were treated intravenously with an isotonic solution containing sodium bicarbonate, and their oxygen equilibrium curves (OECS) were calculated under standard conditions and compared with those of a group of healthy calves. The relationships between the OECS for arterial and venous blood and the oxygen extraction ratio were investigated. In the diarrhoeic calves, the affinity of haemoglobin for oxygen, measured under standard conditions, was increased compared with the healthy animals.

Blood-oxygen binding in healthy Standardbred horses.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of regulating factors on the oxygen equilibrium curve (OEC) under standard conditions and then to calculate the oxygen extraction between arterial and jugular venous blood in healthy Standardbred horses. The results were compared to those previously obtained in humans and cattle, using the same experimental method. The partial oxygen pressure at 50% saturation of haemoglobin, measured under standard conditions (standard P50), was 24.

Haemoglobin oxygen affinity and regulating factors of the blood oxygen transport in canine and feline blood.

Complete dynamic oxygen equilibrium curves (OEC) on dogs and cats whole blood were measured at 33, 37 and 41 degrees C. OEC were also run at three partial carbon dioxide pressures (20, 40 and 80 mmHg) as well as at five pH levels (7.2, 7.

Calculation of bovine haemoglobin oxygen saturation by algorithms integrating age, haemoglobin content, blood pH, partial pressures of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the blood, and temperature.

In human and veterinary medicine, arterial and venous haemoglobin oxygen saturations are often used to estimate the severity of a disease and to guide therapeutic decisions. In veterinary medicine, haemoglobin oxygen saturation (SO(2)) is usually calculated using a blood gas analyser and algorithms developed for humans. It is possible, therefore, that the values obtained in animals may be distorted, particularly in animals with a high haemoglobin oxygen affinity, like young calves.

Mechanisms controlling the oxygen consumption in experimentally induced hypochloremic alkalosis in calves.

The study was carried out on healthy Friesian calves (n = 10) aged between 10 and 30 days. Hypochloremia and alkalosis were induced by intravenous administration of furosemide and isotonic sodium bicarbonate. The venous and arterial blood samples were collected repeatedly.

Blood oxygen binding in hypoxaemic calves.

Blood oxygen transport and tissue oxygenation were studied in 28 calves from the Belgian White and Blue breed (20 healthy and 8 hypoxaemic ones). Hypoxaemic calves were selected according to their high respiratory frequency and to their low partial oxygen pressure (PaO2) in the arterial blood. Venous and arterial blood samples were collected, and 2,3-diphosphoglycerate, adenosine triphosphate, chloride, inorganic phosphate and hemoglobin concentrations, and pH, PCO, and PO2 were determined.

[Respiratory rehabilitation in patients with bronchial asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in Kinshasa].

A number of studies in western countries have shown that respiratory and physical rehabilitation of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) only has a minimal effect on respiratory function but can significantly improve physical capacity. The aim of our study was to apply these methods to patients in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. We treated 38 patients (20 women) who had bronchial asthma (n=14) or COPD (n=24).

Blood oxygen binding in calves with naturally occurring diarrhea.

Objective: To assess blood oxygen binding in calves with diarrhea.

Animals: 22 dairy and 26 double-muscled calves with diarrhea, 31 healthy dairy calves and 37 healthy double-muscled calves.

Procedure: Severity of disease, including the ability of affected calves to stand, was evaluated.

Lung function study and diffusion capacity in anorexia nervosa.

Study Objectives: In humans, malnutrition alters the respiratory system in different ways. It impairs the ventilatory drive, decreases respiratory muscle strength and reduces immune competence. In addition, typical emphysema-like changes were demonstrated in starved animals.

Blood oxygen binding in double-muscled calves and dairy calves with conventional muscle conformation.

Objective: To assess in vivo blood oxygen binding in double-muscled calves and dairy calves with conventional muscle conformation.

Animals: 58 dairy and 48 double-muscled calves.

Procedure: Calves were classified as neonatal (24 hours old) or older calves (2 to 26 days old).

Lung membrane diffusing capacity, heart failure, and heart transplantation.

The pulmonary diffusing capacity for carbon monoxide (DLCO) is reduced in chronic heart failure and remains decreased after heart transplantation. This decrease in DLCO may depend on a permanent alteration after transplantation of one or the other of its components: diffusion of the alveolar capillary membrane or the pulmonary capillary blood volume (Vc). Therefore, we measured DLCO, the membrane conductance, and Vc before and after heart transplantation.

Pulmonary gas exchange in life-long nonsmoking patients with diabetes mellitus.

In a companion paper, we have found that the alveolar epithelial basal lamina, endothelial basal lamina and both fused were significantly thicker in 6 autopsied diabetics than in 6 control subjects. The purpose of the present work was to assess whether these lesions have detrimental effects on gas exchange. We investigated 20 life-long nonsmoking subjects: 10 healthy subjects and 10 insulin-dependent diabetics.

Diabetes mellitus induces a thickening of the pulmonary basal lamina.

Long-term diabetes mellitus (DM) is characterized by widespread alterations of basal lamina (BL). The purpose of the present work was to verify whether the lung is also a target organ damaged in DM. Electron microscopy was performed on lung and kidney samples (autopsic material) from 6 diabetics and 6 control subjects studying the thickening of BL of different structures (alveolar epithelial BL, endothelial capillary BL, both fused BL, BL of the glomerular capillary endothelium and BL of the renal tubules).

Validation of cardiac echocardiography for measuring cardiac output to be applied for the multiple inert gas elimination technique.

The multiple inert gas elimination technique (MIGET) is being increasingly used in respiratory physiology and pathophysiology. Six inert gases are given as an intravenous infusion then measured in samples of expired air and mixed arterial and venous blood. This requires right-sided catheterization, a procedure that is sometimes ethically inappropriate.

Effect of inorganic ions on the oxyhemoglobin dissociation curve of severely ill patients.

We have shown that administration of inorganic potassium phosphates (Pi) to patients with severe diabetic ketoacidosis was able to increase the P50 (the PO2 necessary to achieve a hemoglobin saturation of 50%) by a non diphosphoglycerate (DPG) mediated effect. This suggests that the oxyhemoglobin dissociation curve (ODC) may be determined not only by pH, temperature, CO2 content and DPG but also by plasmatic ions. In order to test this hypothesis we have determined the ODC on whole blood in two groups of subjects, 49 control subjects with matching age and sex and 49 patients suffering from liver cirrhosis, acute pancreatitis, septic shock and acute respiratory distress syndrome.

Effects of hyperchloremia on blood oxygen binding in healthy calves.

Three different levels of hyperchloremia were induced in healthy Friesian calves to study the effects of chloride on blood oxygen transport. By infusion, the calves received either 5 ml/kg of 0.9% NaCl (low-level hyperchloremia; group A), 5 ml/kg of 7.

Assessment of the lactate biosensor methodology.

The rapid determination of lactate level is useful for clinical emergencies, as in the case of shock conditions or during surgical operations, as well as in numerous cases of respiratory failure, in cardiac or paediatric pathology and during exercise tests. Moreover, it is of prognostic significance in critically ill patients. Photometric methods are slow and, even when performed in good conditions, will give results only 30 min after blood collection, during which time the clinical condition of the patient may change.

The effects of hypertonic saline in healthy and diseased animals.

In this review, the pharmacological effects of administering hypertonic solutions to both healthy animals and during experimentally induced diseases are considered with a view to understanding the mechanisms behind the possible clinical efficacy of such treatment. The review focuses successively on haemorrhagic shock, endotoxic shock and hypokalaemic metabolic alkalosis. How hypertonic saline solutions affect oxygen transport by haemoglobin is also considered.

Effect of alveolar volume on the interpretation of single breath DLCO.

Single-breath carbon monoxide diffusing capacity in the whole lung (DLCO) and per unit alveolar volume (DLCO/VA), as expressed in percentage of normal values, gave discordant results when VA of the patients was abnormal. It was hypothesized that normal reference values were inappropriate to interpret data collected in such patients. To substantiate this hypothesis, DLCO and DLCO/VA were measured in four groups: (1) normal volunteers in whom both indices were measured at five different VA; (2) patients with high VA; (3) emphysematous patients; and (4) patients with diffuse interstitial lung diseases (DILD).