Urinary Aflatoxin M1 Concentration and Its Determinants in School-Age Children in Southern Ethiopia.

Aflatoxins are mycotoxins that can contaminate grains, legumes, and oil seeds. These toxic compounds are an especially serious problem in tropical and sub-tropical climates. The objective of this study was to raise awareness of aflatoxin exposure among primary school children in Shebedino woreda, southern Ethiopia, by measuring urinary aflatoxin M1 (AFM1). The study employed a cross-sectional design and systematic random sampling of children from eight schools in the district. The mean ± SD age of the children was 9.0 ± 1.8 years. Most (84.6%) households were food insecure with 17.9% severely food insecure. Urinary AFM1 was detected in more than 93% of the children. The median [IQR] concentration of AFM1/Creat was 480 [203, 1085] pg/mg. Based on a multiple regression analysis: DDS, consumption of haricot bean or milk, source of drinking water, maternal education, and household food insecurity access scale scores were significantly associated with urinary AFM1/Creat. In conclusion, a high prevalence of urinary AFM1 was observed in this study. However, the relation between AFM1 and dietary intake was analyzed based on self-reported dietary data; hence, all of the staple foods as well as animal feeds in the study area should be assessed for aflatoxin contamination.

Video on Diet Before Outpatient Colonoscopy Does Not Improve Quality of Bowel Preparation: A Prospective, Randomized, Controlled Trial.

OBJECTIVES: Successful outpatient colonoscopy (CLS) depends on many factors including the quality of a patient's bowel preparation. Although education on consumption of the pre-CLS purgative can improve bowel preparation quality, no study has evaluated dietary education alone. We have created an educational video on pre-CLS dietary instructions to determine whether dietary education would improve outpatient bowel preparation quality. METHODS: A prospective randomized, blinded, controlled study of patients undergoing outpatient CLS was performed. All patients received a 4 l polyethylene glycol-based split-dose bowel preparation and standard institutional pre-procedure instructions. Patients were then randomly assigned to an intervention arm or to a no intervention arm. A 4-min educational video detailing clear liquid diet restriction was made available to patients in the intervention arm, whereas those randomized to no intervention did not have access to the video. Patients randomized to the video were provided with the YouTube video link 48-72 h before CLS. An attending endoscopist blinded to randomization performed the CLS. Bowel preparation quality was scored using the Boston Bowel Preparation Scale (BBPS). Adequate preparation was defined as a BBPS total score of ≥6 with all segment scores ≥2. Wilcoxon rank-sum and Pearson's χ2-tests were performed to assess differences between groups. RESULTS: Ninety-two patients were randomized (video: n=42; control: n=50) with 47 total video views being tallied. There were no demographic differences between groups. There was no statistically significant difference in adequate preparation between groups (video=74%; control=68%; P=0.54). CONCLUSIONS: The availability of a supplementary patient educational video on clear liquid diet alone was insufficient to improve bowel preparation quality when compared with standard pre-procedure instruction at our institution.

Changes in Biology Self-Efficacy during a First-Year University Course.

Academic self-efficacy encompasses judgments regarding one's ability to perform academic tasks and is correlated with achievement and persistence. This study describes changes in biology self-efficacy during a first-year course. Students (n = 614) were given the Biology Self-Efficacy Scale at the beginning and end of the semester. The instrument consisted of 21 questions ranking confidence in performing biology-related tasks on a scale from 1 (not at all confident) to 5 (totally confident). The results demonstrated that students increased in self-efficacy during the semester. High school biology and chemistry contributed to self-efficacy at the beginning of the semester; however, this relationship was lost by the end of the semester, when experience within the course became a significant contributing factor. A proportion of high- and low- achieving (24 and 40%, respectively) students had inaccurate self-efficacy judgments of their ability to perform well in the course. In addition, female students were significantly less confident than males overall, and high-achieving female students were more likely than males to underestimate their academic ability. These results suggest that the Biology Self-Efficacy Scale may be a valuable resource for tracking changes in self-efficacy in first-year students and for identifying students with poorly calibrated self-efficacy perceptions.

Effective and organ specific radiation doses from videourodynamics in children.

PURPOSE: Effective and organ specific doses of ionizing radiation during videourodynamics are unknown. We estimated radiation exposure in children undergoing videourodynamics, and identified patient and examination factors that contribute to higher dosing. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Fluoroscopy data were collected from consecutive patients undergoing videourodynamics. Documented dose metrics were used to calculate entrance skin dose after applying a series of correction factors. Effective doses and organ specific doses (ovaries/testes) were estimated from entrance skin dose using Monte Carlo methods on a mathematical anthropomorphic phantom (ages 0, 1, 5, 10 and 15 years). Regression analysis was performed to determine patient and procedural factors associated with higher dosing. RESULTS: A total of 100 children (45% male, mean ± SD age 9.3 ± 5.7 years) were studied. Diagnoses included neurogenic bladder (73%), anatomical abnormality (14%) and functional/nonneurogenic disorder (13%). Mean fluoroscopy time was 0.17 ± 0.12 minutes. Mean age adjusted entrance skin dose, effective dose, and testis and ovary doses were 2.18 ± 2.00 mGy, 0.07 ± 0.05 mSv, 0.09 ± 0.10 mGy and 0.20 ± 0.13 mGy, respectively. On univariate analysis age, height, weight, body mass index, bladder capacity and fluoroscopy time were associated with effective dose. On multivariate adjusted analysis, body mass index, bladder capacity and fluoroscopy time were independently associated with effective dose. CONCLUSIONS: The average effective dose of ionizing radiation from videourodynamics was less compared to voiding cystourethrogram dose reported in the literature. Greater fluoroscopy time, body mass index and bladder capacity are independently associated with higher dosing.