BACKGROUND Globally, the burden of stroke is increasing at an alarming rate. Factors associated with stroke among hypertensive patients are not consistent across different studies and there are limited studies particularly to hypertensive stroke in the particular setting. This study aimed to assess factors associated with stroke among patients with hypertension in Ayder Comprehensive Specialized Hospital, Mekelle, Tigray, Ethiopia, in 2018. METHODS Hospital-based case-control study was conducted from February to April 2018. Cases were adult hypertensive patients with stroke and controls were adult hypertensive patients without a stroke. Cases and controls were identified from the patient's card review. Using a systematic random sampling technique 89 cases and 356 controls were included in this study. Record review, physical measurement, and interview techniques were used to collect data. Data was entered and analyzed by using SPSS version 23. Variables with a p-value of less than 0.25 in the bivariate logisti practices and hypertension-related complications in each follow-up visit is very essential for improving the primary stroke prevention.OBJECTIVE Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has become a pressing health problem facing the world today due to its high morbidity, high mortality, and late discovery. As a diagnostic criteria of HCC, the exact threshold of Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) is controversial. Therefore, this study was aimed to systematically estimate the performance of AFP in diagnosing HCC and to clarify its optimal threshold. METHODS Medline and Embase databases were searched for articles indexed up to November 2019. English language studies were included if both the sensitivity and specificity of AFP in the diagnosis of HCC were provided. The basic information and accuracy data included in the studies were extracted. Combined estimates for sensitivity and specificity were statistically analyzed by random-effects model using MetaDisc 1.4 and Stata 15.0 software at the prespecified threshold of 400 ng/mL, 200 ng/mL, and the range of 20-100 ng/mL. The optimal threshold was evaluated by the area under curve (AUC) of the summary receiver opervely). Furthermore, similar result that favored 400 ng/mL were shown in the threshold in terms of AFP combined with ultrasound.  https://www.selleckchem.com/products/Y-27632.html  CONCLUSION AFP levels in serum showed good accuracy in HCC diagnosis, and the threshold of AFP with 400 ng/mL was better than that of 200 ng/mL in terms of sensitivity and specificity no matter AFP is used alone or combined with ultrasound.OBJECTIVE To clarify the relationship between dietary habit and disease activity of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). METHODS This study enrolled RA patients who met the ACR/EULAR 2010 classification criteria from Kyoto University Rheumatoid Arthritis Management Alliance (KURAMA) cohort in 2015. 22-item food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) was taken for the measurement of dietary habit in a single-institution cohort of RA (Kyoto University Rheumatoid Arthritis Management Alliance KURAMA) in 2015. The disease activities of RA using the Disease Activity Score calculated based on the erythrocyte sedimentation rate (DAS28-ESR), Simplified Disease Activity Index (SDAI), Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ), and serum matrix metalloproteinase-3 (MMP-3) level, the use of disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs), disease duration, rheumatoid factor, anti-cyclic citrullinated antibody, and body mass index were also examined. All of them were combined and statistically analyzed. RESULTS 441 RA patients (81% women; mean less then 0.01), SDAI (β = -0.18, p less then 0.001), MMP-3 (β = -0.15, p less then 0.01), and HAQ (β = -0.24, p less then 0.0001). "Vegetables/fruits" had statistically significant negative correlations with SDAI (β = -0.11 p less then 0.05), MMP-3 (β = -0.12, p less then 0.01), and HAQ (β = -0.11, p less then 0.05). CONCLUSIONS These results suggest that high intake frequency of vegetables/fruits and/or seafoods might correlate with low disease activity.The harmful cyanobacteria blooms which usually form in spring and summer, cause global eutrophication of freshwater and coastal marine ecosystems. This study tried to utilize cyanobacteria as a raw material to produce biological poly(vinyl)alcohol-based films. Cyanobacteria was firstly modified with poly(ethylene glycol), guanidine hydrochloride, carboxymethyl cellulose and 3-glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane as plasticizer, modifier, toughening agent and coupling agent, respectively. And then the modified cyanobacteria was introduced to poly(vinyl)alcohol and cellulose nanofibers/poly(vinyl)alcohol matrix to improve the barrier properties of poly(vinyl)alcohol to light and water. Compared with poly(vinyl)alcohol and cellulose nanofibers/poly(vinyl)alcohol films, the obtained cyanobacteria/poly(vinyl)alcohol and the cyanobacteria/cellulose nanofibers/poly(vinyl)alcohol composites exhibit better resistance to light and water. More interestingly, we found that after adding cyanobacteria, the poly(vinyl)alcohol-based films present better barrier properties to blue-violet light and red light. In adddition, introducing cyanobacteria into poly(vinyl)alcohol or cellulose nanofibers/poly(vinyl)alcohol matrix increases the surface roughness and contact angle to water of the composites.BACKGROUND Bangladesh introduced the 10-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV-10) in 2015. We measured population-based incidence of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) prior to introduction of PCV-10 to provide a benchmark against which the impact of PCV-10 can be assessed. METHODS We conducted population, facility and laboratory-based surveillance in children 0-59 months of age in three rural sub-districts of Sylhet district of Bangladesh from January 2014 to June 2015. All children received two-monthly home visits with one week recall for morbidity and care seeking. Children attending the three Upazilla Health Complexes (UHC, sub-district hospitals) in the surveillance area were screened for suspected IPD. Blood samples were collected from suspected IPD cases for culture and additionally, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) was collected from suspected meningitis cases for culture and molecular testing. Pneumococcal isolates were serotyped by Quellung. Serotyping of cases detected by molecular testing was done by sequential multiplex polymerase chain reaction.