Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest number of mother to child transmissions of HIV. PMTCT programme plays a big role in reducing the MTCT nevertheless its effectiveness in Sub-Saharan Africa depends on involvement of m...Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest number of mother to child transmissions of HIV. PMTCT programme plays a big role in reducing the MTCT nevertheless its effectiveness in Sub-Saharan Africa depends on involvement of male partners considering the fact that men are decision makers in African families. They make important decisions that have big impact on women’s health. Male partner involvement has been seen to increase uptake of PMTCT services and their involvement underscores their importance in reducing HIV infection in children. Recently many sub-Saharan countries adopted male partner involvement in PMTCT programme with an aim of increasing the uptake of PMTCT services. The programme has made some progress in improving the effectiveness of PMTCT services. On the other hand the strategy is facing a lot of challenges, the biggest being low male partner involvement. This article therefore seeks to review the successes and challenges faced by male involvement in Sub-Saharan Africa. It also proposes the way forward in order to improve its effectiveness. We used peer reviewed articles of research studies conducted in Sub-Saharan Africa and other related reliable sources of data to write the paper.展开更多
Purpose: A number of case-control studies have been conducted to investigate the association of glutathione S-transferase (GST) genetic polymorphisms and endometrial carcinoma risk. However, these studies have yielded...Purpose: A number of case-control studies have been conducted to investigate the association of glutathione S-transferase (GST) genetic polymorphisms and endometrial carcinoma risk. However, these studies have yielded contradictory results. We therefore performed a meta-analysis to derive a more precise estimation of the association between polymorphisms on GSTM1, GSTT1 and endometrial carcinoma. Methods: Identification of relevant studies was carried out through a search in the following databases Medline, EMbase andChinaNational Knowledge International (CNKI) up to March. 2013. All case-control studies that investigated the association between GS-TM1 and GSTT1 gene polymorphisms and risk of endometrial cancer were included in the study. The pooled odds ratio (OR) was used for analyses of results and the corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CI) were estimated. Result: Six published case-control studies of association between the GSTM1 and GSTT1 polymorphism and endometrial cancer risk covering 3558 subjects were included in the metaanalysis, but the results indicated that the null genotypes of GSTM1 and GSTT1 polymorphisms were not associated with a significantly increased risk of endometrial cancer (for GSTM1: OR = 0.99;95% CI, 0.86 - 1.4;for GSTT1: OR = 0.96;95% CI, 0.80 - 1.14, respectively). Conclusion: This meta-analysis suggests that GSTM1 and GSTT1 polymorphism may not be associated with increased risk of endometrial cancer. To validate the association between polymorphism and endometrial cancer, further studies with larger numbers of participants worldwide are needed.展开更多
Objective: Recent studies on the association between Uridine diphosphoglucuronosyl tranferases (UGT) 2B17 status and risk of prostate cancer (PCa) showed inconclusive results. To clarify this possible association, we ...Objective: Recent studies on the association between Uridine diphosphoglucuronosyl tranferases (UGT) 2B17 status and risk of prostate cancer (PCa) showed inconclusive results. To clarify this possible association, we conducted a meta-analysis of published studies. Methods: We searched published literature from PubMed, Embase, Google Scholar and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI). According to our inclusion criteria, studies that observed the association between UGT2B17 status and PCa risk were included. The principal outcome measure was the adjusted odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) for the risk of PCa associated with UGT2B17 status. Results: A total of 6 studies with 7029 subjects (3839 cases and 3190 controls) were eligible for inclusion in the meta-analysis. Overall, there was a significant association between UGT2B17 status and increased risk of prostate cancer (OR = 1.74, 95% CI 1.14 - 2.64, P 0.001). Similar results were found in the subgroup analyses by ethnicity and types of controls. Conclusion: This meta-analysis demonstrates that UGT2B17 status is associated with prostate cancer susceptibility, and it contributes to increased risk of prostate cancer.展开更多
Purpose: To determine the outcome of trabeculectomy in African countries. Design: This is a review of literature for trabeculectomy conducted in Africa from 2000 to December 2012. Methods: We conducted an electronic s...Purpose: To determine the outcome of trabeculectomy in African countries. Design: This is a review of literature for trabeculectomy conducted in Africa from 2000 to December 2012. Methods: We conducted an electronic search from the following databases: PubMed, Science Direct, Google, and Google scholar websites for the articles of original studies on trabeculectomy conducted in Africa. Results: A total of 109 articles, published from 2000 to December 2012 were retrieved. Only 12 articles met our inclusion criteria and were included in the study. The follow-up duration ranged from 6 months to 60 months. The post-trabeculectomy IOP range was 10 mmHg to 22 mmHg with rates varying from 61.8% to 90%. The visual acuity was unchanged among 19% to 30% of the participants in the last follow-up, and the improvement rate was 36% to 81.5% while those whose condition worsened ranged from 8.9% to 30.8%. The cup-disc ratio was ≤0.5 in 13% and ≥0.8 in 83% of the participants. The failure rate of the c/d ratio was 0.9 and it increased by 0.027 units. There was a follow-up of only one study on the visual field. Conclusion: Trabeculectomy with or without application of antimetabolite appears to be a good way to lowering the IOP in Africa. In addition, the combined effect of trabeculectomy and cataract surgery produces visual benefits for the patients.展开更多
文摘Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest number of mother to child transmissions of HIV. PMTCT programme plays a big role in reducing the MTCT nevertheless its effectiveness in Sub-Saharan Africa depends on involvement of male partners considering the fact that men are decision makers in African families. They make important decisions that have big impact on women’s health. Male partner involvement has been seen to increase uptake of PMTCT services and their involvement underscores their importance in reducing HIV infection in children. Recently many sub-Saharan countries adopted male partner involvement in PMTCT programme with an aim of increasing the uptake of PMTCT services. The programme has made some progress in improving the effectiveness of PMTCT services. On the other hand the strategy is facing a lot of challenges, the biggest being low male partner involvement. This article therefore seeks to review the successes and challenges faced by male involvement in Sub-Saharan Africa. It also proposes the way forward in order to improve its effectiveness. We used peer reviewed articles of research studies conducted in Sub-Saharan Africa and other related reliable sources of data to write the paper.
文摘Purpose: A number of case-control studies have been conducted to investigate the association of glutathione S-transferase (GST) genetic polymorphisms and endometrial carcinoma risk. However, these studies have yielded contradictory results. We therefore performed a meta-analysis to derive a more precise estimation of the association between polymorphisms on GSTM1, GSTT1 and endometrial carcinoma. Methods: Identification of relevant studies was carried out through a search in the following databases Medline, EMbase andChinaNational Knowledge International (CNKI) up to March. 2013. All case-control studies that investigated the association between GS-TM1 and GSTT1 gene polymorphisms and risk of endometrial cancer were included in the study. The pooled odds ratio (OR) was used for analyses of results and the corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CI) were estimated. Result: Six published case-control studies of association between the GSTM1 and GSTT1 polymorphism and endometrial cancer risk covering 3558 subjects were included in the metaanalysis, but the results indicated that the null genotypes of GSTM1 and GSTT1 polymorphisms were not associated with a significantly increased risk of endometrial cancer (for GSTM1: OR = 0.99;95% CI, 0.86 - 1.4;for GSTT1: OR = 0.96;95% CI, 0.80 - 1.14, respectively). Conclusion: This meta-analysis suggests that GSTM1 and GSTT1 polymorphism may not be associated with increased risk of endometrial cancer. To validate the association between polymorphism and endometrial cancer, further studies with larger numbers of participants worldwide are needed.
文摘Objective: Recent studies on the association between Uridine diphosphoglucuronosyl tranferases (UGT) 2B17 status and risk of prostate cancer (PCa) showed inconclusive results. To clarify this possible association, we conducted a meta-analysis of published studies. Methods: We searched published literature from PubMed, Embase, Google Scholar and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI). According to our inclusion criteria, studies that observed the association between UGT2B17 status and PCa risk were included. The principal outcome measure was the adjusted odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) for the risk of PCa associated with UGT2B17 status. Results: A total of 6 studies with 7029 subjects (3839 cases and 3190 controls) were eligible for inclusion in the meta-analysis. Overall, there was a significant association between UGT2B17 status and increased risk of prostate cancer (OR = 1.74, 95% CI 1.14 - 2.64, P 0.001). Similar results were found in the subgroup analyses by ethnicity and types of controls. Conclusion: This meta-analysis demonstrates that UGT2B17 status is associated with prostate cancer susceptibility, and it contributes to increased risk of prostate cancer.
文摘Purpose: To determine the outcome of trabeculectomy in African countries. Design: This is a review of literature for trabeculectomy conducted in Africa from 2000 to December 2012. Methods: We conducted an electronic search from the following databases: PubMed, Science Direct, Google, and Google scholar websites for the articles of original studies on trabeculectomy conducted in Africa. Results: A total of 109 articles, published from 2000 to December 2012 were retrieved. Only 12 articles met our inclusion criteria and were included in the study. The follow-up duration ranged from 6 months to 60 months. The post-trabeculectomy IOP range was 10 mmHg to 22 mmHg with rates varying from 61.8% to 90%. The visual acuity was unchanged among 19% to 30% of the participants in the last follow-up, and the improvement rate was 36% to 81.5% while those whose condition worsened ranged from 8.9% to 30.8%. The cup-disc ratio was ≤0.5 in 13% and ≥0.8 in 83% of the participants. The failure rate of the c/d ratio was 0.9 and it increased by 0.027 units. There was a follow-up of only one study on the visual field. Conclusion: Trabeculectomy with or without application of antimetabolite appears to be a good way to lowering the IOP in Africa. In addition, the combined effect of trabeculectomy and cataract surgery produces visual benefits for the patients.
