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BACKGROUND: Caregivers' knowledge and attitudes influence help-seeking behavior and treatment decisions of patients with epilepsy, which in turn significantly impacts epilepsy care. In Ethiopia, epilepsy is often misunderstood, associated with misconceptions and accompanied by persistent negative attitudes. The objective of this study is to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice of caregivers of children with epilepsy. METHODS: We conducted a hospital-based survey at the Yekatit 12 Hospital Pediatric Neurology Clinic, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, between May and July 2022. We invited caregivers of children with epilepsy taking one or more daily anti-seizure medications to participate. Caregivers were invited to complete a structured questionnaire with guidance from a trained nurse to estimate knowledge and attitudes towards epilepsy and its treatment. Knowledge and attitudes were categorized as "good" and "favorable" (correct answers to ≥ 50% of questions) or "bad" and "unfavorable" (< 50% correct answers), respectively. Attitudes towards standard care versus non-standard (e.g., spiritual) care were also estimated. RESULTS: A total of 120 caregivers completed the questionnaire. Many caregivers were familiar with the term 'epilepsy', with more than half (51.7%) having heard or read about it previously. The reported causes of epilepsy varied, with birth injury being the most common cause (44 out of 120 caregivers). Notably, there was association between the caregiver's gender and their knowledge score, with a p-value = 0.05. Caregivers exposed to information about epilepsy through hearing or reading demonstrated significantly higher levels of knowledge, with a p-value < 0.001. Additionally, knowing someone with epilepsy other than the index child was significantly associated with higher knowledge scores (p-value < 0.001). The study also revealed negative attitudes toward epilepsy: for example, 56.7% of surveyed caregivers believed it is unlikely that a child with epilepsy has normal cognitive abilities and 39.1% believed they should never be allowed to attend regular school. Additionally, a high proportion of caregivers (70%) sought alternative treatments (e.g., spiritual help) alongside standard medical care. CONCLUSIONS: A significant knowledge gap was identified among caregivers, revealing prevalent misconceptions and negative attitudes. Improving epilepsy awareness, attitudes, and practices among caregivers will potentially contribute to overall improved quality of life for children with epilepsy.
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Cuidadores , Epilepsia , Conocimientos, Actitudes y Práctica en Salud , Humanos , Epilepsia/psicología , Epilepsia/enfermería , Epilepsia/diagnóstico , Epilepsia/epidemiología , Epilepsia/terapia , Cuidadores/psicología , Etiopía/epidemiología , Femenino , Masculino , Estudios Transversales , Adulto , Niño , Encuestas y Cuestionarios , Preescolar , Adolescente , Persona de Mediana Edad , Adulto Joven , Instituciones de Atención AmbulatoriaRESUMEN
In this research, the transformation and toxicity of Reactive Red 141 and 239 biodegraded under anaerobic-aerobic conditions as well as metagenomic analysis of Reactive Red 239 degrading microbial consortia collected from Shala Hot spring were investigated. Toxicity of dyes before treatment and after treatment on three plants, fish and microorganisms were done. A halotolerant and thermo-alkaliphilic bacterial consortia decolorizing azo dyes (>98% RR 141 and > 96% RR 239 in 7 h) under optimum conditions of salt concentration (0.5%), temperature (55 °C) and pH (9), were used. Toxicity effect of untreated dyes and treated dyes in Tomato > Beetroot > Cabbage plants, while the effect was Leuconostoc mesenteroides > Lactobacillus plantarum > Escherichia coli in microorganisms. Among fishes, the toxicity effect was highest in Oreochromis niloticus followed by Cyprinus carpio and Clarias gariepinus. The three most dominant phyla that could be in charge of decolorizing RR 239 under anaerobic-aerobic systems were Bacteroidota (22.6-29.0%), Proteobacteria (13.5-29.0%), and Chloroflexi (8.8-23.5%). At class level microbial community structure determination, Bacteroidia (18.9-27.2%), Gammaproteobacteria (11.0-15.8%), Alphaproteobacteria (2.5-5.0%) and Anaerolineae (17.0-21.9%) were dominant classes. The transformation of RR 141 and RR 239 into amine compounds were proposed via high performance liquid chromatography-mass spectroscopy (HPLC/MS) and fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). Overall, dye containing wastewaters treated under anaerobic-aerobic systems using thermo-alkaliphilic microbial consortia were found to be safe to agricultural (fishes and vegetables) purposes.
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OBJECTIVE: Mothers who have endured psychological distress during pregnancy are more likely to have cognitive and behavioral issues for their baby, and are at greater risk for subsequent mental health problems for themselves. The aim of this study is to evaluate the prevalence of psychological distress during pregnancy in women attending antenatal clinics in Addis Ababa public hospitals and to find out if there are any associated factors. METHODS: Hospital based cross sectional study was employed from May 7 to June 6, 2019 at public hospitals. A total of 810 pregnant women participated in the study selected through systematic random sampling technique. Kessler psychological distress Scale (K10) was used to measure psychological distress during pregnancy. Frequency tables and graphs were used to describe the study variable. The association between variables analyzed with bi-variable and multivariable binary logistic regression. A statistical significance was declared at p value < 0.05 with 95% confidence interval. RESULT: A total of 810 participants were included in the study with the response rate of 92%. The Prevalence of psychological distress among pregnant women was found to be 174(21.5%) with (95% CI, 18.6, 24.6). decreasing age [AOR = 3.61, 95%CI, 1.00, 13.01], no formal education [AOR = 3.57, 95%CI, 2.06, 6.19], having an abortion history [AOR = 2.23, 95%CI, 1.29, 3.87], having intimate partner violence [AOR = 4.06, 95%CI, 2.37, 6.94] and poor social support[AOR = 3.33, 95%CI, 1.95, 5.70] were statistically associated with psychological distress during pregnancy. CONCLUSION: This research found high prevalence of psychological distress during pregnancy compared with majorities of preceding studies. In this study we identified factors that are associated with psychological distress in pregnancy. This includes, decreasing age, no formal education, having an abortion history, having intimate partner violence and poor social support. Psychological distress screening and potential risk factors for mental illness evaluations should be carried out during pregnancy for early diagnosis and intervention.
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Complicaciones del Trabajo de Parto , Mujeres Embarazadas , Femenino , Humanos , Embarazo , Mujeres Embarazadas/psicología , Atención Prenatal , Etiopía/epidemiología , Estudios Transversales , Factores de Riesgo , Hospitales Públicos , PrevalenciaRESUMEN
Wastewaters in textile industry are mainly characterized by higher pH, color, salt and chemical oxygen demand (COD) values, which are environmentally undesirable. Among these textile effluent characteristics, color removal is the most challenging task. In this study, the potential of Rift Valley halotolerant and thermo-alkaliphilic microbial consortia (collected from Shala hot spring located in Ethiopia) for azo dye biodegradation under anaerobic-aerobic conditions were evaluated. Optimization and microbial diversity analysis were done using Reactive Red 141. Under optimum conditions of pH (9), temperature (55 °C), salinity (0.5%), and nutrients, microbial consortia can remove >98% color and 92.7 ± 7.3% COD under anaerobic and aerobic conditions, respectively. In addition, the consortia was capable of decolorizing initial dye concentrations of 100-1000 mg/L, and various dye types including Everzol Blue LX, RY 84, RR 239, RB 198 and RY 700. The 16S rRNA gene sequence results showed that Bacteroidetes (25.3%) > Proteobacteria (21.0%) > Chloroflexi (18.5%) > Halobacterota (6.2%) dominant phyla. Based on the findings, non-color effluent adapted Rift Valley halotolerant and thermo-alkaliphilic bacterial consortia can be a potential candidate for bioremediation of textile and other industries characterized by higher salinity, temperature and pH.
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Compuestos Azo , Consorcios Microbianos , Anaerobiosis , Compuestos Azo/metabolismo , Biodegradación Ambiental , Colorantes/metabolismo , ARN Ribosómico 16S/genética , Industria Textil , Aguas Residuales/químicaRESUMEN
Bacterial wilt of enset caused by Xanthomonas campestris is a devastating disease in Ethiopia, where enset is domesticated and served as a staple food for about 20 million people in the country. While enset is infected by bacteria, it shows different wilting stages. However, the microbial community shifts at the different stages of enset infection and associated physicochemical parameter changes remain poorly understood. This study was aimed to visualize the proportion of enset wilt bacterium from other microbial community and its association with physicochemical parameter at different states of enset health. Soil and enset (zero, first, second and third stages) samples were collected from three districts in Gamo Highlands for physicochemical and biological (culture dependent and16S rRNA gene sequence) analysis. The results of culture dependent analysis which has been complemented by 16S rRNA gene sequence confirmed that increasing trends were observed for Xanthomonadaceae, Pseudomonadaceae, Lactobacillaceae and Flavobacteriaceae, while Bacillaceae and Enterobacteriaceae showed progressive decrease from zero to the third stage. Particularly, the 16S rRNA data showed that Xanthomonadaceae increased significantly from zero to different (2.5 × 102 times at the onset of disease and 1.0-2.0 × 104 times at the second and third) stages of enset infection. Most physicochemical results showed that a decreasing trends from zero to third stage, while few parameters are showing an increasing trend. Moisture content (R2 ≥ 0.951, P ≤ 0.049) of the soil and plant samples positively influenced Xanthomonas abundance, while this bacterium showed a strongly negative significant correlation with pH (R2 ≥ -0.962, P ≤ 0.038), temperature (R2 ≥ -0.958, P ≤ 0.042), OM (R2 ≥ -0.952, P ≤ 0.048), and TN (R2 ≥ -0.951, P ≤ 0.049). A strongly negative significant correlation (R2 ≥ -0.948, P ≤ 0.050) was also observed between Xanthomonas and nutrients (K, Mg, Ca, and Cu). Overall, this study implies that different environmental factors found a key driving force of Xanthomonas proportional increment from low abundance at zero stage to higher abundance at the last stage of enset infection suggesting that considering these factors help to design an effective enset disease management strategy, for which further studies will be needed.
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Microbiota , Musaceae , Bacterias/genética , Humanos , ARN Ribosómico 16S/genética , Suelo , Microbiología del SueloRESUMEN
Although suicidal attempt is common among medical students, little is known about the prevalence estimates and the potential determining factors in low and middle-income countries including Ethiopia. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to estimate the prevalence and associated factors of suicidal attempts among medical students in Ethiopia. Institutional based cross-sectional study was conducted among 423 medical students selected by using a stratified random sampling technique. The World Health Organization Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI) was used to assess suicidal attempts among the study participants. Binary and multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed to identify the potential determinants of suicidal attempt. Odds ratios (OR) with the corresponding 95% confidence interval (95%CI) were calculated to assess the strength of association. In this study, the prevalence of suicidal attempt among medical students was found to be 8.2% (95% CI 5.7, 11.4%). In the adjusted model, the variables associated with suicidal attempt were female sex, history of chronic medical illness, excessive course load, psychological distress, poor social support, and daily internet use for more than 3 h. In the present study, the prevalence of suicide attempts was relatively high (8.2%). Early screening is necessary to identify suicidal attempt and the potential determining factors to prevent death as well as adverse educational outcomes during the medical education program.
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Estudiantes de Medicina/psicología , Estudiantes de Medicina/estadística & datos numéricos , Ideación Suicida , Intento de Suicidio/psicología , Intento de Suicidio/estadística & datos numéricos , Adolescente , Adulto , Estudios Transversales , Etiopía/epidemiología , Femenino , Humanos , Masculino , Prevalencia , Factores de Riesgo , Adulto JovenRESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Job loss in patient with chronic illness like schizophrenia is the most serious public concern in the clinical and socio-economic terms worldwide. Patients with schizophrenia usually have unsatisfactory job termination like quitting or getting fired which results well-established negative outcomes. The complex interplay between one another has made job and mental illness the focus areas. In the developing nations, there is limited study on these areas in spite of higher rates of job loss. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to assess the prevalence and correlates of job loss among schizophrenia outpatient units in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. METHODS: Institutional based cross-sectional study was conducted at Saint Amanuel Mental Specialized Hospital among schizophrenia outpatient units in Addis Ababa from May to June 2018. A total of 421 study subjects were interviewed using Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale and Perceived devaluation and discrimination scale. Out of the total study participants, female populations were slightly higher (50.4%) and the majorities (38.6%) were orthodox religion followers. Study characteristics was summarized using descriptive statistics and bi-variable and multivariable analysis was performed using Statistical Package for Social Science version 24. Furthermore, those factors at p value ≤ 0.05 were considered as statistically significant. RESULTS: The prevalence of job loss among patients with schizophrenia was 37.3%. Factors including unmarried [AOR = 2.42:95% CI (1.28, 4.54)], divorced [AOR = 2.34: 95% CI (1.16, 4.71)], severe positive symptoms [AOR = 2.03: 95% CI (1.15, 3.60)], severe general psychopathology [AOR = 1.76: 95% CI (1.01, 3.08)], and poor level of social and occupational functioning [AOR = 5.05: 95% CI (2.81, 9.09)] were significantly associated with job loss among schizophrenia people. CONCLUSION: This study suggested that job loss among schizophrenia outpatients was high. There was significant association among people with unmarried, divorced, severe positive symptoms, poor functionality and higher general psychopathology. Therefore, clinical and psychosocial factors were responsible for job loss which warrant further attention and investigation.
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Pacientes Ambulatorios/estadística & datos numéricos , Esquizofrenia/complicaciones , Desempleo/estadística & datos numéricos , Adolescente , Adulto , Estudios Transversales , Etiopía , Femenino , Hospitales Psiquiátricos/estadística & datos numéricos , Humanos , Masculino , Estado Civil/estadística & datos numéricos , Pacientes Ambulatorios/psicología , Factores de Riesgo , Índice de Severidad de la Enfermedad , Estigma Social , Apoyo Social , Desempleo/psicología , Adulto JovenRESUMEN
An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via the original article.
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BACKGROUND: Alcohol use during pregnancy is a significant public health problem, ultimately affecting the neonatal offspring. Recent studies explore that no safe amount and safe time to drink alcohol during pregnancy. Even though drinking in pregnancy has a wide range of problems, a small number of scientific publications document on the magnitude of drinking alcohol during pregnancy in Sub-Saharan African countries including Ethiopia. The aim of this study was to assess prevalence and associated factors of alcohol use among pregnant women attending prenatal care at public hospitals, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. METHODS: Hospital based cross sectional study was employed from May 7 to June 6, 2019 at public hospitals, Addis Ababa. A total of 585 pregnant women participated in the study selected through systematic random sampling technique. Frequency of consumption was measured by using AUDIT. Frequency tables and graphs were used to describe the study variable. The association between variables analyzed with bi-variable and multivariable binary logistic regression. A statistical significance was declared at p value < 0.05 with 95% confidence interval. RESULT: A total of 585 participants were included in the study with the response rate of 98.6%. The study showed that the prevalence of alcohol use among pregnant women were 37.1% with (95% CI, 33.2-41). Factors like no formal education [AOR = 3.22, 95%CI, 1.72, 6.02], pre-pregnancy alcohol use [AOR = 3.16, 95%CI, 2.03, 4.91], partner alcohol use [AOR = 3.43, 95%CI, 2.21, 5.32], and poor social support [AOR = 3.16, 95%CI, 1.88, 5.31] were statistically associated with alcohol use during pregnancy. CONCLUSION: In this study the prevalence of alcohol use during pregnancy was high as compared to majority of other studies. This study observed that no formal education, pre-pregnancy alcohol use, partner alcohol use, and poor social support, were highly associated with alcohol use during pregnancy. Based on the findings of this study early management of alcohol use and problematic alcohol use is needed for pregnant women.
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Consumo de Bebidas Alcohólicas , Mujeres Embarazadas , Atención Prenatal , Adolescente , Adulto , Consumo de Bebidas Alcohólicas/epidemiología , Estudios Transversales , Etiopía/epidemiología , Femenino , Hospitales Públicos , Humanos , Embarazo , Prevalencia , Factores de Riesgo , Adulto JovenRESUMEN
Children with developmental disabilities are at increased risk for epilepsy with a prevalence rate higher than the general population. Some of the more common developmental disorders in childhood and the features of epilepsy in these conditions are discussed. Specifically, autism, cerebral palsy, mental retardation, and attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder are reviewed. Ideal treatment for developmentally-disabled children with epilepsy entails maximal seizure control without any significant adverse effects from the anti-epileptic drugs and good quality of life. Antiepileptic drugs' cognitive and behavioral adverse effects tend to occur more frequently in these children. Careful selection of the appropriate medication and close monitoring for drug adverse effects is important. The specific adverse effects of the older and newer antiepileptic drugs are also reviewed.