Care practices of contact lens solutions and microbial contamination among wearers in Ghana.

PURPOSE: This study sought to assess contact lens solutions care practices, and their microbial contamination among contact lens wearers in Ghana and to profile their antibiotic susceptibility pattern. METHODS: The study employed a biphasic approach which involved a cross-sectional design that investigated participants' habits related to care for the solutions with a two-part questionnaire and a microbiological analysis of samples of contact lens care solutions of the participants for microbial contamination. A snowball sampling method provided access to 32 different contact lens wearers in four care facilities in Ghana. In most cases, the participants had no pre-existing familial relationship with each other or with the care facilities. RESULTS: Out of 32 samples of contact lens solutions, 30 were tested for microbial contamination. A total of 23 (76.67 %) samples of contact lens solution were found to be contaminated with Enterobacter sp. (34.80 %), Pseudomonas sp. (21.70 %), Bacilli sp. (21.70 %), Klebsiella sp. (17.20 %), and Escherichia coli (4.60 %). The duration of solution storage in the open bottle and nonadherence to manufacturer instructions for solution storage showed a statistically significant association with microbial contamination (p ≤ 0.05). CONCLUSION: Contact lens care solutions have been found to harbour multiple antibiotic-resistant bacteria that are potentially pathogenic to the corneal surface. The contamination is associated with some unhealthy solution-care practices among wearers.

Biotechnological Application of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Lactobacillus delbrueckii sp. bulgaricus for Protein Enrichment of Fermented Unmalted and Malted Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench).

This study evaluated changes in protein contents of malted and unmalted sorghum, and their formulated blends, after fermentation for 10 days at 25°C with mono and cocultures of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Lactobacillus delbrueckii sp. bulgaricus. Fermentation of unmalted and malted sorghum and their formulated blends of 1 : 1 (w/w), 3 : 1 (w/w), and 1 : 3 (w/w) by S. cerevisiae and L. bulgaricus could increase their protein contents. Thus, there was an increase in protein content of fermented, malted sorghum by 68.40% for S. cerevisiae, 34.98% for L. bulgaricus, and 76.59% for cocultures of S. cerevisiae and L. bulgaricus; protein contents of fermented, unmalted sorghum also increased by 58.20, 39.36, and 55.00% for monoculture of S. cerevisiae, monoculture of L. bulgaricus, and coculture of S. cerevisiae and L. bulgaricus, respectively. S. cerevisiae was more effective in enriching protein content of the 1 : 3 (w/w) formulated blend of unmalted-malted sorghum by 77.59%; L. bulgaricus was more effective in enriching protein content of the 3 : 1 (w/w) unmalted-malted sorghum blend by 60.00%; coculture of S. cerevisiae and L. bulgaricus enriched the protein content of 3 : 1 (w/w) unmalted-malted sorghum substrate by 44.54%. Significant (p ≤ 0.05) increases in fat with corresponding decreases in carbohydrate and fibre contents were consistently recorded in malted and unmalted sorghum. In the formulated blends of sorghum, fat, carbohydrate, and fibre contents either increased or decreased erratically after fermentation. There were significantly (p ≤ 0.05) higher protein contents in malted sorghum, compared to unmalted sorghum. These findings show that solid-state microbial fermentation technology, using S. cerevisiae and L. bulgaricus, either as mono- or coculture, could effectively enrich the protein contents of unmalted and malted sorghum and their formulated blends. The implications of the findings for infant and adult nutrition are discussed, and future work to augment findings is suggested.

Prevalence and associations of depression, anxiety, and stress among people living with HIV: A hospital-based analytical cross-sectional study.

Background and Aims: An important but much less researched burden of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in Sub-Saharan Africa includes the associated mental health outcomes of living with the virus. This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of depression, anxiety, and stress, and describe some of the socio-demographic associations among people living with HIV (PLHIV) in Ghana. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital, Ghana. Simple random sampling was used to recruit 395 PLHIV who access HIV-related services at the antiretroviral therapy clinic. The Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale-21 was used to assess prevalence of depression, anxiety, and stress. Frequencies and percentages were used to estimate the prevalence and multivariable logistic regression was used to evaluate sociodemographic factors associated with depression, anxiety, and stress. Results: The prevalence estimates of depression, anxiety, and stress among PLHIV were 28.6% (95% confidence interval [CI] 24.4-33.3), 40.8% (95% CI = 36.0-45.8), and 10.6% (95% CI = 7.9-14.1), respectively. Females reported higher prevalence of depression (32.2%; 95% CI = 27.2-37.7), anxiety (44.0%; 95% CI = 38.4-49.6), and stress (12.6%; 95% CI = 9.4-17.0) compared to depression (17.5%; 95% CI = 11.1-26.4), anxiety (30.9%; 95% CI = 22.5-40.7), and stress (4.1%; 95% CI = 1.2-10.4) among males. PLHIV without a regular partner were about 0.63 increased odds of experiencing anxiety compared to those with a regular partner (AOR = 0.63, 95% CI = 0.40-1.00: p = 0.049). PLHIV without formal education were about 0.49 and 0.44 increased odds to experience anxiety and stress, respectively compared to those with tertiary education. Conclusions: Generally, the levels of stress, anxiety, and depression are high among PLHIV, but disproportionately higher among females. Mental health assessment and management should be integrated into the HIV care services. There should be capacity building for health care workers to offer differentiated service delivery based on mental health care needs of PLHIV.