Hospital Practices and Research
Volume:7 Issue: 3, Summer 2022

The African continent is a known malaria-endemic region. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, COVID-19/malaria co-infection is of critical importance in Africa due to the similarities in the manifestation of their symptoms. To avert compromising the health status of individuals on the African continent during the COVID-19 pandemic, this commentary sought to examine the link between COVID-19 and malaria, outlining strategies for improving the diagnosis and prevention of COVID-19 and malaria in Africa. A scale-up of malaria-focused care should be considered to ensure adequate reporting of COVID-19 cases in Africa. Likewise, individuals who present for malarial testing should be linked to COVID-19 testing and treatment care in Africa. Also, surveillance activities should be scaled up to ensure accurate COVID-19 case reporting and improved case notification. Regular refresher trainings should be organized for healthcare workers to promote healthcare service delivery.

Age is a major determinant of chronic respiratory disease (CRD). This is important because CRD have a main role in shaping morbidity and mortality of individuals and populations. However, less research is done on whether age-related changes in development of CRD differ across diverse racial groups. Using a conceptual model that considers race as a proxy of racism rather than genetics and attributing racial differences to sociological rather than biological differences, this study was conducted to explore racial differences in the effects of age on CRD. Based on Marginalization-related Diminished Returns (MDRs) framework, we expect diminished relevance of risk and resources for marginalized people due to racism, segregation, and social stratification. Using data from baseline PATH-Adults data, we included 23761 adults. The independent variable was age treated as a categorical variable. The primary outcome was presence of any CRD including asthma, bronchitis, emphysema, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Sex and education were the covariates. Race, as a proxy of racism, was the moderator. To analyze the data, we used logistic regression mode with and without interaction term between age and race. Higher age was associated with higher odds of CRD, while sex, and socioeconomic status (SES) was controlled. In line with the MDRs framework, the positive association between age and CRD was weaker for Black than White adults. Under racism, age loses some of its effect as a major determinant of CRD across racialized groups.

COVID-19 quickly spread around the world as an epidemic with potentially unknown hazards. Like its impacts on various occupations, neurosurgery has undergone changes due to the virus, including changes in surgical planning, inpatient and outpatient clinics, emergency management, and even academic activities.

The present study was performed to determine neurosurgery challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic in Iran.

The present study was conducted as a mixed qualitative and quantitative study in 2021. In the qualitative section using the targeted sampling method, 11 members of the target community were selected using the available sampling method and completed a questionnaire. The qualitative part was conducted in two stages of reviewing texts and interviewing experts and in the quantitative part we evaluated the validity of the structure and the reliability of the questionnaire.

This study examined in detail all aspects of the effects of COVID-19 on neurosurgery. 9 dimensions and 61 items were identified as the challenges of neurosurgery during the COVID-19 pandemic. In order of importance, the aspects were: treatment outcome, manpower, management psychological and physical diseases, education and research, tools and physical space, ethics, financial implications and information technology.

The outbreak of epidemics has different risks for specialties, among them neurosurgery. Accordingly, to observe patients’ right to treatment, all necessary measures were first taken to provide instructions, regulations, policies and ethical guidelines.

Sleep disorders of breathing encompass a spectrum of disorders ranging from primary snoring to obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS), which leads to septoplasty in the most patients. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of nasal septoplasty surgery on the severity of OSAS. The current quasi-experimental self-controlled study was conducted on adult patients with deviated nasal septum and were candidate for nasal septoplasty. Before surgery and two months after surgery, patients underwent respiratory polygraph. The parameters assessed included the airflow and oximetry indices. The severity of sleep apnea will be assessed based on the ApneaHypopnea Index (AHI). Also, the severity of snoring was scored from zero to 10 based on the visual analog scale (VAS). The severity of daytime sleepiness was also determined using the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS). Data were analyzed by using SPSS software. There was a significant reduction in the mean score of ESS after the surgery (P<0.001), daytime fatigue (P=0.002), and daytime sleepiness (P<0.001). Also, breathing quality during sleep showed that the severity of apnea (P<0.001), snoring (P<0.001), as well as ESS (P<0001) were significantly improved. There were no significant changes in the means of oxygen saturation (P=0.14) and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep (P=0.06) after non-REM stage 1-2 (P=0.09), but following non-REM stage 3-4 significantly improved (P=0.03). The correction of nasal obstruction improved the general health of OSAS patients. These results further reflected that the corrective surgery could improve the patients’ emotional state and social performance, effectively upgrading their quality of life.

Craniosynostosis is a congenital deformity of the skull that occurs at birth. This study aimed to investigate the frequency of different types of craniosynostosis in Isfahan, Iran. In this retrospective study, the records of all patients referred to the pediatric neurosurgery clinic of Imam Hossein children’s hospital in Isfahan, Iran from 2013 to 2018 were diagnosed with craniosynostosis. Incomplete files were excluded. Demographic information of patients and type of delivery, underlying diseases of their parents, diseases of maternal pregnancy, type of craniosynostosis, syndromic or non-syndromic craniosynostosis were collected. Data were analyzed using SPSS software version 22. The diagnosis of craniosynostosis in 63% of cases (n=121) was a single suture and in 37% of cases (n=72) was a complex suture. There was no significant difference in the frequency distribution of craniosynostosis in males and females (P>0.05). Due to the prevalence of 16 cases per 100,000, we can reduce the complications of this disease by educating doctors and parents.

Tinnitus is described as the perception of sounds occurring in one or both ears or inside the human head without external auditory stimuli. This study aimed to compare the efficacy of amitriptyline and melatonin in the treatment of tinnitus. This study was a randomized double-blind clinical trial of 60 patients referred to the neurology clinics of Kashani and Al-Zahra hospitals in Isfahan, Iran in 2020. Each patient was randomly assigned 1 code. Patients first filled in the THI and VAS questionnaires and were given either one of the two drugs (melatonin and amitriptyline) for 6 weeks. After collecting the desired information using an independent t test and paired t test in SPSS 26 software and error level of 0.05 the results were analyzed. Thirty patients were in the amitriptyline group and 30 patients were in the melatonin group, of which 25 were men (41.7%) and 35 were women (58.3%) with a minimum age of 18 years and a maximum of 65 years. There was no significant difference between the reduction of tinnitus before and after taking the drugs based on VAS scale in amitriptyline and melatonin groups (P=0.234), however there was a significant difference between the effect of two amitriptyline and melatonin drugs on the reduction of tinnitus based on the THI questionnaire (P=0.018). The rate of tinnitus in patients decreased for 6 weeks with the use of amitriptyline and melatonin, but amitriptyline had a better effect on reducing the complications and pain of tinnitus.

The risk of developing diabetes mellitus for an individual with a positive family history of the disease is two-to fourfold higher in an offspring of a diabetic compared with offspring of non-diabetic. This study aimed to assess the anthropometric parameters of offspring of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients in Sagamu, Nigeria. Study subjects were 100 offspring of consecutive T2DM patients’ attending a hospital endocrinology clinic. Diabetic offspring were exempted from the study. FBS was determined employing enzymatic hexokinase method. Height, weight, waist circumference (WC), and hip circumference (HC) were measured utilizing standard methods while body mass index (BMI) and waist-hip ratio (WHR) were calculated. There were 50 males and 50 females study subjects, aged 16 to 65 years. The most populated aged group was 16 to 25 years of which 48.6% (n = 36) were males and 51.4% (n = 38) were females. Totally, 18 subjects were either obese or overweight. Significantly, male subjects had a greater mean weight compared to females (P = 0.021) while females had greater mean BMI (P = 0.037). Mean WHR was significantly higher among male subjects (P = 0.018). Common Anthropometric parameters are normal, female subjects tend to have higher BMI while males have higher weight and WHR.