Door-to-Diuretic Time and Outcomes in Acute Heart Failure: A Scoping Review.

Introduction: Inadequate decongestion remains an unmet need in the management of patients with heart failure. The concept of door-to-diuretic (D2D) time to improve outcomes has been proposed for patients with heart failure (HF), but the trial results have been mixed.

Methods: We utilized Preferred Reporting Instrument for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) for scoping reviews with an extensive a priori search strategy for databases: PubMed and Scopus between January 2015 and November 2023.

Top five considerations for improving outcomes in black patients with heart failure: A guide for primary care clinicians.

Black patients develop heart failure at younger ages and have worse outcomes such as higher mortality rates compared to other racial and ethnic groups in the United States. Despite significant recent improvements in heart failure medical therapy, these worse outcomes have persisted. Multiple reasons have been provided to explain the situation, including but not limited to higher baseline cluster of cardiovascular risk factors amongst Black patients, inadequate use of heart failure guideline directed medical therapy and delayed referral for advanced heart failure therapies and interventions.

Unravelling the dynamics of human development and economic growth on crude oil production based on ARDL and NARDL models.

This paper estimates and establishes the causality between the Human Development Index (HDI), Gross Domestic Product (GDP), inflation and CO2 emissions on crude oil production (COP) in Cameroon from 1977 to 2019. To do so, the Augmented Dicky-Fuller and Zivot-Andrews stationarity tests, ARDL and NARDL modelling, as well as Toda-Yamamoto causality test are performed. Unlike previous studies on COP, this study incorporates the asymmetric impact (NARDL).

Can personalized digital counseling improve consumer search for modern contraceptive methods?

This paper analyzes a randomized controlled trial of a personalized digital counseling intervention addressing informational constraints and choice architecture, cross-randomized with discounts for long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs), such as intrauterine devices (IUDs). The counseling intervention encourages shared decision-making (SDM) using a tablet-based app, which provides a tailored ranking of modern methods to each client according to their elicited needs and preferences. Take-up of LARCs in the status quo regime at full price was 11%, which increased to 28% with discounts.

Clinical outcomes and echocardiographic characteristics between African American and Caucasian patients with acute pulmonary embolism.

Background: Despite socioeconomic disparities, no association between clinical presentation and poor outcomes explains a higher mortality in African Americans with pulmonary embolism (PE). The objective is to identify the co-morbidities and echocardiographic characteristics associated with increased mortality in African American patients.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional study of Caucasian or African American patients with PE diagnosed between October 2015 and December 2017 at University of Maryland Medical Center.

Working With Burmese Patients: Understanding Historical and Cultural Contexts to Improve Health Care Access and Health Status.

Introduction: Burmese patients resettled in the United States as refugees constitute one of the country's largest refugee populations. As health inequities within the wider Asian and Asian American population have garnered more attention, medical professionals have worked to better understand how to provide care to Burmese and Burmese American patients. This workshop addresses the pressing need to provide culturally responsive care to this growing population.

[Factors associated with the failure of medical treatment for ectopic pregnancy: case study conducted at the Yaoundé Gynaecology, Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital].

Introduction: the purpose of this study was to identify factors associated with the failure of medical treatment for ectopic pregnancy (EP) in women at the Yaoundé Gynaecology, Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital.

Methods: we conducted a case-control study using a retrospective data collection over a 10-year period from January 1 2008 to December 31 2017. Our study included all patients treated for EP; the study group was composed of patients in whom medical treatment had been unsuccessful while the control group was composed of patients in whom medical treatment had been successful.

Effects of clinical depression on left ventricular dysfunction in patients with acute coronary syndrome.

Depression is associated with heart failure independent of traditional cardiovascular disease risk factors. Enhanced platelet activation has been suggested as a potential mechanism and has been associated with negative inotropic effects that can affect left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF). We examined 131 consecutive acute coronary syndrome (ACS) patients to assess whether depression increased the risk for developing LV dysfunction, and to determine the effects of platelet serotonin signaling in this relationship.

[Epidemiological, clinical and therapeutic features of acute pelvic pain in female patients hospitalized in the Yaoundé Gynaecology-Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital].

Introduction: Acute pelvic pain is an important cause of morbi-mortality. The purpose of this study was to describe the epidemiological, clinical and therapeutic features of acute pelvic pain in Yaoundé.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional, descriptive study with collection of prospective data in the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics at the Yaoundé Gynaecology-Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital over the period 1 April-31 July 2015.

Assessment of adherence to iron supplementation among pregnant women in the Yaounde gynaeco-obstetric and paediatric hospital.

Introduction: Anemia is a global problem affecting 41.8% of pregnant women. Iron deficiency is the leading cause during pregnancy.

[Vaginal birth after previous cesarean section in low-resource countries: healthcare chain and materno-fetal follow-up].

The rate of uterine scars, an established risk factor for obstetric morbidity, is increasing worldwide. In developing countries, spontaneous uterine ruptures may constitute 87.4% of cases.

Procalcitonin-Guided Antibiotic Therapy Reduces Antibiotic Use for Lower Respiratory Tract Infections in a United States Medical Center: Results of a Clinical Trial.

Background: European trials using procalcitonin (PCT)-guided antibiotic therapy for patients with lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs) have demonstrated significant reductions in antibiotic use without increasing adverse outcomes. Few studies have examined PCT for LRTIs in the United States.

Methods: In this study, we evaluated whether a PCT algorithm would reduce antibiotic exposure in patients with LRTI in a US hospital.

Selectively arranged single-wire based nanosensor array systems for gas monitoring.

Gas nanosensors, comprised of arrays of nanoelectrodes with finger-widths of ∼100 nm developed by electron beam lithography and aerosol assisted chemical vapor deposited non-functionalized and Pt-functionalized tungsten oxide nanowires (<100 nm) subsequently integrated across the pairs of electrodes via the dielectrophoresis method, are developed in this work. The functionality of these devices is validated towards various concentrations of NO2 and C2H5OH. The results demonstrate reproducible and consistent responses with better sensitivity and partial selectivity for the non-functionalized systems to NO2, as opposed to the Pt-functionalized systems, which display better sensing properties towards C2H5OH with a loss of response to NO2.

Reproducibility of the 75 g oral glucose tolerance test for the diagnosis of gestational diabetes mellitus in a sub-Saharan African population.

Objective: To evaluate the reproducibility of the 75 g oral glucose tolerance test and factors associated with non-reproducible results in Cameroonian pregnant women.

Results: Twenty-seven of the 84 participants (32.1%) who did the first oral glucose tolerance test were diagnosed with gestational diabetes mellitus.

High proportion of extrapulmonary tuberculosis in a low prevalence setting: a retrospective cohort study.

Objectives: The proportion of extrapulmonary tuberculosis (EPTB) cases in the United States (US) has been rising due to a slower rate of decline in EPTB compared to pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB). The purpose of this study was to characterise the clinical and treatment differences between EPTB and PTB patients, and identify patient factors associated with EPTB.

Study Design: We performed a retrospective cohort study of active tuberculosis (TB) cases treated at the Baltimore City Health Department between 2008 and 2013.

Best practice guidelines for stroke in Cameroon: An innovative and participatory knowledge translation project.

Background: Although the adherence to stroke guidelines in high-income countries has been shown to be associated with improved patient outcomes, the research, development and implementation of rehabilitation related guidelines in African countries is lacking.

Objectives: The purpose of this article is to describe how a group of front-line practitioners collaborated with academics and students to develop best practice guidelines (BPG) for the management and rehabilitation of stroke in adult patients in Cameroon.

Method: A working group was established and adapted internationally recognised processes for the development of best practice guidelines.

Gynaecological laparoscopic surgery: eight years experience in the Yaoundé Gynaeco-Obstetric and Paediatric Hospital, Cameroon.

This is a retrospective analysis of eight years of gynaecological laparoscopic surgery in a resource-limited setting. All gynaecological patients managed by laparoscopy at the Yaoundé Gynaeco-Obstetric and Paediatric Hospital from 1 January 2004 to 30 November 2011 were included. Amongst the 9194 gynaecological surgeries performed during the study period, 6.

Sexual activity during pregnancy and prognosis of labor in Cameroonian women: a cohort study.

Objective: Our aim was to assess the effects of sexual activity during pregnancy on the prognosis of labor.

Methods: It was a prospective cohort study of labor comparing 72 women declaring unprotected vaginal sexual intercourse after 37 weeks of pregnancy consecutively recruited to 72 women claiming no sexual contact after 37 weeks of pregnancy also consecutively recruited.

Results: The sexually active group at term were significantly involved in more frequent heterosexual intercourse after 28 weeks pregnancy and before term (RR = 37.

Localized growth and in situ integration of nanowires for device applications.

Simultaneous localized growth and device integration of inorganic nanostructures on heated micromembranes is demonstrated for single crystalline germanium and tin oxide nanowires. Fully operating CO gas sensors prove the potential of the presented approach. With this simple CMOS compatible technique, issues of assembly, transfer and contact formation are addressed.

Studies of Filipino patients with systemic lupus erythematosus: autoantibody profile of first-degree relatives.

This study surveyed the frequency of autoantibodies among un-affected first-degree relatives (FDRs) of Filipino systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients compared with healthy un-related Filipino controls. The sensitivity, specificity and predictive value of the autoantibodies for SLE diagnosis were also assessed in this Filipino cohort. Filipino patients included in the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Lupus Database and un-affected FDRs were recruited.

Selective 13C labeling of nucleotides for large RNA NMR spectroscopy using an E. coli strain disabled in the TCA cycle.

Escherichia coli (E. coli) is an ideal organism to tailor-make labeled nucleotides for biophysical studies of RNA. Recently, we showed that adding labeled formate enhanced the isotopic enrichment at protonated carbon sites in nucleotides.

Growth of wildtype and mutant E. coli strains in minimal media for optimal production of nucleic acids for preparing labeled nucleotides.

Since RNAs lie at the center of most cellular processes, there is a need for synthesizing large amounts of RNAs made from stable isotope-labeled nucleotides to advance the study of their structure and dynamics by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. A particularly effective means of obtaining labeled nucleotides is to harvest these nucleotides from bacteria grown in defined minimal media supplemented with 15NH4Cl and various carbon sources. Given the high cost of carbon precursors required for labeling nucleic acids for NMR studies, it becomes important to evaluate the optimal growth for commonly used strains under standard minimal media conditions.

Cytoreductive surgery and intraoperative hyperthermic chemoperfusion for advanced ovarian carcinoma.

Background: Optimal cytoreductive surgery combined with intraoperative hyperthermic chemoperfusion (IHCP) is a therapy that potentially could improve survival in a select group of patients with advanced ovarian cancer. The purpose of this study was to review the results of cytoreductive surgery and IHCP for advanced ovarian cancer and to identify factors that may predict which patients maximally benefit from this aggressive treatment.

Methods: Patients treated with cytoreduction followed by IHCP for ovarian cancer were identified from an IHCP database from 1/2001 through 3/2004.

Diabetes, hypertension and birth injuries: a complex interrelationship.

Seemingly coincidental occurrence of various pathological conditions may derive from common etiologic denominators. While reviewing 240 malpractice claims involving shoulder dystocia related fetal injuries, we found two antenatal complications in the background conspicuously often. Chronic or pregnancy induced hypertension was identifiable in 80 instances (33%).

Epithelioid sarcoma of the uterine cervix.

Background: Epithelioid sarcoma is a rare, yet aggressive soft tissue neoplasm that has not previously been reported to originate in the cervix.

Case: A 29-year-old woman was seen in consultation at our institution after having been diagnosed with a poorly differentiated carcinoma of the cervix, which was treated with radiation and chemotherapy. Examination of the original biopsy material with additional studies led to a diagnosis of epithelioid sarcoma of the cervix.