Quality of antenatal care services in Rwanda: assessing practices of health care providers.

Background: Although most pregnant women in Rwanda visit antenatal care (ANC) clinics, little has been studied about the quality of services being provided. We investigated the ANC providers' (HCPs) current practices in relation to prevention, management and referral of maternal conditions as well as the information provided to pregnant women attending ANC services in Rwanda.

Methods: This facility-based, cross-sectional study included 312 ANC providers as participants and a review of 605 ANC medical records from 121 health centers.

Intimate partner violence during pregnancy in relation to non-psychotic mental health disorders in Rwanda: a cross-sectional population-based study.

Objectives: To investigate the prevalence of non-psychotic mental health disorders (MHDs) and the association between exposure to all forms of intimate partner violence (IPV) during pregnancy and MHDs.

Design: Cross-sectional population-based study conducted in the Northern Province of Rwanda and Kigali city.

Participants And Settings: Totally, 921 women who gave birth ≤13 months before being interviewed were included.

Determinants of poor utilization of antenatal care services among recently delivered women in Rwanda; a population based study.

Background: In Rwanda, a majority of pregnant women visit antenatal care (ANC) services, however not to the extent that is recommended. Association between socio-demographic or psychosocial factors and poor utilization of antenatal care services (≤2 visits during the course of pregnancy irrespective of the timing) among recently pregnant women in Rwanda were investigated.

Methods: This population-based, cross sectional study included 921 women who gave birth within the past 13 months.

Intimate partner violence among pregnant women in Rwanda, its associated risk factors and relationship to ANC services attendance: a population-based study.

Objectives: To investigate the prevalence of four forms of intimate partner violence during pregnancy in Rwandan women, associated sociodemographic and psychosocial factors and relationship to antenatal care service usage.

Design: This was a cross-sectional population-based study conducted in the Northern province of Rwanda and in Kigali city.

Participants And Settings: A total of 921 women who gave birth within the past 13 months were included.

Maternal parity, fetal and childhood growth, and cardiometabolic risk factors.

We examined the associations of maternal parity with fetal and childhood growth characteristics and childhood cardiometabolic risk factors in a population-based prospective cohort study among 9031 mothers and their children. Fetal and childhood growth were repeatedly measured. We measured childhood anthropometrics, body fat distribution, left ventricular mass, blood pressure, blood lipids, and insulin levels at the age of 6 years.

Hemodynamic adaptations in different trimesters among nulliparous and multiparous pregnant women; the Generation R study.

Background: It has been suggested that maternal vascular adaptations during pregnancy differ between nulliparous and multiparous women. Therefore, we examined the associations of parity with blood pressure and hemodynamic placental function during pregnancy and risks of gestational hypertensive disorders.

Methods: The study was embedded in a population-based prospective cohort study among 8,377 pregnant women.

Cutaneous manifestations in systemic trichosporonosis.

Trichosporonosis due to Trichosporon beigelii is increasingly recognized in neutropenic immunocompromised patients. We report the clinical and histological presentation of three cases, as well as a study of the prevalence of T. beigelii colonization of normal-looking skin in patients receiving intensive chemotherapy for cancer.

Ketoconazole 2% emulsion in the treatment of seborrheic dermatitis.

Fifty patients (42 men, 8 women) with seborrheic dermatitis were included in the trial. Ketoconazole 2% emulsion or the same emulsion without active drug was applied b.i.

Bioavailability of fluconazole and ketoconazole in human stratum corneum and oral mucosa.

In this study, the bioavailability of fluconazole and ketoconazole in the stratum corneum and oral mucosa after multiple oral dosages were compared. It is well recognized that such evaluation is heavily dependent on the test methods employed. A method of culture of fungi on human stratum corneum and superficial mucosal cells, a model close to the in-vivo situation, was used.

[Cutaneous protothecosis treated with itraconazole].

Protothecosis is a rare infection by algae without chloroplasts. We report a case of an immunocompetent patient who had visited countries of south-east Asia. The lesion was present on the elbow, and consisted of a granuloma studded with cells and sporangiae of Prototheca.

Growth of Candida albicans on the stratum corneum of diabetic and non-diabetic patients.

We have used a novel approach to in vitro culture of Candida albicans on cyanoacrylate skin surface strippings. It appears that with this model yeasts and hyphae grew on large surfaces of stratum corneum. The area of extension of the fungal growth was larger on stratum corneum taken from diabetic than from non-diabetic volunteers.

Cutaneous mixed infections in AIDS.

We report a new case of mixed infection occurring at the same site of the skin in a human immune deficiency virus-positive patient. Hyperkeratotic and crusted erosions contained fusospirochetal organisms, Cryptococcus neoformans, and another unidentified fungus.

Culture of fungi on cyanoacrylate skin surface strippings--a quantitative bioassay for evaluating antifungal drugs.

Current in vitro testing methods for antifungal drugs are often inadequate and sometimes correlate poorly with in vivo efficacy. We present a method of culture of fungi on cyanoacrylate skin surface strippings that can be used in combination with computerized image analysis to evaluate the efficacy of commercially available topical and oral antifungal drugs. Since this method closely copies the in vivo situation, it has obvious advantages over other in vitro investigative procedures and should be of relevance clinically.

[Lobomycosis].

Lobomycosis is a rare disease occurring with predilection in the Amazonian region. We report the clinical and histological presentation of a patient living in Peru. The lesion resembled an hypertrophic scar located on the neck.