Background It has been suggested that health literacy may impact the use of decision aids (DAs) among patients facing difficult decisions. Embedded in the pilot test of a questionnaire, this study aimed to measure the association between health literacy and pregnant women’s intention to use a DA to decide about prenatal screening. We recruited a convenience sample of 45 pregnant...
It has been suggested that health literacy may impact the use of decision aids (DAs) among patients facing difficult decisions. Embedded in the pilot test of a questionnaire, this study aimed to measure the association between health literacy and pregnant women’s intention to use a DA to decide about prenatal screening. We recruited a convenience sample of 45 pregnant women in...
Background Healthcare associated infections (HAI) with multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria continue to be a global threat, highlighting an urgent need for novel antibiotics. In this study, we assessed the potential of free fatty acids and cholesteryl esters that form part of the innate host defense as novel antibacterial agents for use against MDR bacteria. Methods Liposomes of...
Background One of the potential limitations of large scale aerobic Escherichia coli fermentation is the need for increased dissolved oxygen for culture growth and bioproduct generation. As culture density increases the poor solubility of oxygen in water becomes one of the limiting factors for cell growth and product formation. A potential solution is to use a microbubble...
Healthcare associated infections (HAI) with multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria continue to be a global threat, highlighting an urgent need for novel antibiotics. In this study, we assessed the potential of free fatty acids and cholesteryl esters that form part of the innate host defense as novel antibacterial agents for use against MDR bacteria. Liposomes of six different...
Background Daidzein is an isoflavone derived from soybeans that exerts preventive effects on bone loss in ovariectomized (OVX) animals. These effects have been correlated with increasing serum equol levels. In the present study, we investigated the effects of antibiotic intake on equol metabolism from daidzein, and the corresponding levels of bone loss in OVX mice. Methods Eight...
Background Cell-free RNA (cfRNA) transcripts known to be expressed by the fetal brain are detectable by quantitative reverse transcription PCR (RT-qPCR) in amniotic fluid and represent potential biomarkers of neurodevelopment. The aim of this study was to compare the cfRNA yields from amniotic fluid (AF) collected in a commercial RNA stabilization product with the traditional...
Daidzein is an isoflavone derived from soybeans that exerts preventive effects on bone loss in ovariectomized (OVX) animals. These effects have been correlated with increasing serum equol levels. In the present study, we investigated the effects of antibiotic intake on equol metabolism from daidzein, and the corresponding levels of bone loss in OVX mice. Eight-week-old female ddY...
Cell-free RNA (cfRNA) transcripts known to be expressed by the fetal brain are detectable by quantitative reverse transcription PCR (RT-qPCR) in amniotic fluid and represent potential biomarkers of neurodevelopment. The aim of this study was to compare the cfRNA yields from amniotic fluid (AF) collected in a commercial RNA stabilization product with the traditional method of...
BackgroundSimple sequence repeats (SSRs) are defined as sequence repeat units between 1 and 6 bp that occur in both coding and non-coding regions abundant in eukaryotic genomes, which may affect the expression of genes. In this study, expressed sequence tags (ESTs) of eight Prunus species were analyzed for in silico mining of EST-SSRs, protein annotation, and open reading frames...
Background Gefitinib is an epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor. Clinical trials have reported its effectiveness in the treatment of brain metastases from non-small cell lung cancer by overcoming the blood–brain barrier. Gefitinib is generally regarded as a relatively safe agent, and several reports have described its efficacy in patients with epidermal...
Background Intrauterine contraceptive device is the most common method of reversible contraception in women. The intrauterine contraceptive device can perforate the uterus and can also migrate into pelvic or abdominal organs. Perforation of the urinary bladder by an intrauterine contraceptive device is not common. In West Africa, intravesical migration of an intrauterine...
Background Renovascular hypertension accounts for 51–52 % of all cases of hypertension in the general population, but plays a major role in treatable causes for hypertension in the young. This entity consists of renal vascular atherosclerosis (90 %), commonly seen among the elderly population, and renal fibro muscular dysplasia (FMD) (10 %), predominantly seen in the young. The...
Background Orofacial cleft (OFC) is one of the most common congenital malformations with a global incidence of approximately 1/700 live births. Clinically, OFCs can be syndromic or non-syndromic. Case presentation A 5 years old boy admitted for genetic evaluation because of psychomotor delay, failure to thrive, dysmorphic features and cleft palate. Conventional cytogenetic showed...
Background The expression of lactase which digests lactose from milk in humans is generally lost after weaning, but selected mutations influencing the promoter of the lactase gene have spread into the human populations. This is considered a classical example of gene-culture co-evolution, and several studies suggested that the lactase gene has been under strong directional...
Background Leprosy, caused by Mycobacterium leprae, is a chronic and progressive granulomatous disease affecting mainly the skin and the peripheral nervous system. If left unrecognized, the infection can lead to permanent nerve damage and disability. The clinical presentation depends on the immune response of the patient and can result in a wide spectrum of symptoms. Leprosy is a...
Background Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a major cause of severe lower respiratory tract illness in young children worldwide. Treatment options for severe RSV disease remain limited and the development of therapeutic treatment strategies remains a priority. LL-37, a small cationic host defense peptide involved in anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial responses, reduces...
Background Peripheral public health facilities remain the most frequented by the majority of the population in Kenya; yet remain sub-optimally equipped and not optimized for non-communicable diseases care. Design and methodology We undertook a descriptive, cross sectional study among ambulatory type 2 diabetes mellitus clients, attending Kenyatta National Referral Hospital (KNH...
Background Around 2 % of women develop a Bartholin’s cyst or abscess at least once in their life time. The use of Word balloon catheter as an office procedure for the management of Bartholin’s cyst and abscess has been well described and indicates high patient acceptance, low short-term recurrence rates and reduced cost. In most of the reported studies, the reduced costs are...
Background With rising health care costs and the diversity of scientific and clinical information available to health care providers it is essential to have methodologies that synthesize and distill the quality of information and make it practical to clinicians, patients and policy makers. Too often research synthesis results in the statement that “more and better research is...
Background Enzootic nasal tumor virus (ENTV-1) is an exogenous betaretrovirus of sheep that transforms epithelial cells lining the ethmoid turbinates leading to a disease called enzootic nasal adenocarcinoma (ENA). A unique feature of ENA is the apparent absence of a specific humoral immune response to the virus, despite the highly productive infection in nasal tumors. The sheep...
Background Laser capture microdissection offers unique possibilities for the isolation of specific cell populations or histological structures. However, isolation of RNA from microdissected tissue is challenging due to degradation and minimal yield of RNA during laser capture microdissection (LCM). Our aim was to optimize the isolation of high-quality RNA from laser capture...
Background Diabrotica virgifera virgifera, western corn rootworm, is one of the most devastating species in North America. D. v. virgifera neonates crawl through the soil to locate the roots on which they feed. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is one of the important volatile cues that attract D. v. virgifera larvae to roots. Results In this study, we identified three putative D. v...