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Background Opportunistic diseases cause morbidity and mortality among human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infected persons. There is dearth of evidence on the magnitude and predictors of opportunistic diseases among PLHIV in Ethiopia. This study was conducted to determine the magnitude and predictors of opportunistic diseases among adults enrolled in the national HIV/AIDS care and treatment services and generate information for program planning and medicine quantification in the country. Methods A health facility-based cross-sectional study was conducted. Probability proportional to size and random sampling methods were employed to select health facilities and medical records of adult HIV-infected patients respectively. A total of 7826 medical records were reviewed from 60 health facilities nationwide. Socio-demographic and clinical data including diagnosis of opportunistic diseases were collected from the medical records. Period prevalence of opportunistic diseases over one year period was determined. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression was used to measure associations between independent variables and the dependent variable, occurrence of opportunistic diseases. Results Of the total of 7826 study participants, 3748 (47.9%) were from hospitals and 4078 were from health centers. The majority (61.8%) were female. The median age was 32 years with interquartile range (IQR) of 27–40. The median duration of stay in HIV care was 56 (IQR = 28–80) months; 7429 (94.9%) were on antiretroviral treatment. A total of 1665 cases of opportunistic diseases were recorded with an overall prevalence estimated at 21.3% (95% confidence interval (CI): 20.36, 22.18%). Skin diseases (4.1%), diarrhea (4.1%), bacterial pneumonia (3.6%), recurrent upper respiratory tract infections (3.1%) and tuberculosis (2.7%) were the leading opportunistic diseases. Isoniazid preventive therapy coverage among eligible patients was 24.8%. Persons with a CD4 count

Hypertensive Disorders of Pregnancy (HDP) represent the most common medical complication in pregnancy associated with significant maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality worldwide. Identification of common maternal and perinatal morbidities associated with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy is important for policy makers to plan to alleviate the problem.To assess the patterns of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy and associated factors in Debre Berhan Referral Hospital.Institution-based retrospective cross sectional study was conducted by reviewing logbooks and patients charts.Among 8626 women who got services in the hospital 340 (3.9%)had hypertensive disorders. The proportion of HDP shows an increasing trend from 1.8% in 2011 to 5.7% in 2014. Preeclampsia accounts for 67.4% of all case followed by eclampsia which account for 27.8%. In this study, HDP was associated with 35.4% preterm delivery, 30.8% fetal death, 39.4% low birth weight, 38.4% low APGAR score and 8.5% IUGR. About 15.8% of newborns born from mothers with HDP mothers needed resuscitation and 40.1% ICU admission. Maternal death occurs in 2.5% mothers who had HDP with the case fatality rate for eclampsia being 6.67%. HDP contributed for 35% of all maternal deaths. Of all mothers with HDP, 58% were primi-gravida ladies.The prevalence of HDP shows an increasing pattern over the last years. Preeclampsia and eclampsia together take the lion-share of HDP. Primi-gravida women are affected more frequently than multi-gravida women with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy. HDP was associated with major adverse perinatal and maternal outcome.

Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease affecting the skin and peripheral nerves. Early diagnosis and full course treatment are critical for preventing lifelong neuropathy and disability to minimize the occurrence of disability.The objective of this study is to assess the magnitude of disability and associated factors among leprosy patients after treatment in Boru Meda Hospital.Facility based cross sectional study was conducted among 128 leprosy patients registered at Boru Meda Hospital from January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2012. Data was collected from charts, entered into a computer, cleaned, edited using EPI Info Version 3.53 for windows and analyzed by SPSS.Five patients (4%) had Grade 2 disability at discharge; the remaining 123 (96%) were discharged with either disability grading 0 or disability grading 1, which are considered to be normal disability grading. Males and rural people were more affected by the diseases: 72% and 92% respectively. Sixty percent of disability occurred due to type one reaction. The mean age of patients and treatment duration were 39.3 years and 60 days respectively. Among the factors type of reaction was significantly associated with disability grading (P = 0.02).Rural people and males are more affected by leprosy and the prevalence of disability is decreasing. This findings suggest that we need to work on awareness creation on rural people and patients with leprosy to see healthcare providers as early as possible.

Teenage pregnancy is directly related to high incidence of pregnancy related complications contributing to maternal morbidity and mortality and social problems. There are no enough data on teenage pregnancy and related complications in Ethiopia and in Benishangul Gumuz region in particular.To investigate the magnitude and factors associated with teenage pregnancy among teenage females visiting Assosa general hospital for health care services.Facility-based quantitative cross-sectional study was carried out among 783 randomly selected teenage females using structured and pre-tested questionnaire from January to April 2014.Teenage pregnancy is estimated at 20.4% in this study. The median age of subjects at first sexual intercourse and at first marriage being 16 and 17 years respectively. High proportion of (46.8%) teenagers had engaged in premarital sex. Among sexually active teenage females, 46.7% experienced their first sexual encounter by coercion. Being young [AOR = 0.21, 95% CI = 0.06-0.67], single [AOR = 0.06, 95% CI = 0.03-0.12], housemaid [AOR = 3.93, 95% CI = 1.71-9.04] and use of family planning [AOR = 2.39, 95% CI = 1.20-4.75] have statistically significant association with teenage pregnancy.A range offactors including age, marital status, level of education, occupational status, average family income and use of family planning have influence on teenage pregnancy in the study area. Behavioral change communication, strengthening school health program, empowering young women specifically the rural women, and promoting parent-children discussion on sexuality is recommended.

The impressive protein content and rapid growth of Spirulina in entirely alkaline medium have attracted the attention of both researchers and business men. Spirulina is one of the best solutions for the simple production of proteinuous food supplement. The protein content of Spirulina varies between 50 % and 70%. The present study was conducted to investigate the possibility of producing Spirulina in outdoor cultivation technology using a local product (Trona) as a substitute for the three major ingredients (NaHCO3, Na2CO3 & NaCl) in the Zarrouk's standard culture medium. The standard medium (SM) was prepared from analytical grade chemicals and used as a control. Accordingly, a modified culture medium (MM) was formulated by incorporating Trona (Na2CO3.NaHCO3.2H2O). 400 ml brine sample was taken from Lake Chitu. The sample was filtered, and the SM & MM media, were inoculated in triplicate with the Spirulia contained in the brine. The growth of Spirulina continued for ten days with every 48 h monitoring. The data on Spirulina biomass interms of yield and chlorophyll content were collected. Chemical and microbiogical analyses were done. During the growth cycle, the exponential growth phase was mathematically analyzed. In the scaling-up trial, a plastic dish with a diameter of 60 cm was used in the place of a pond for 7 days. Accordingly, biomass determination, phyico- chmical analysis and sensory evaluation were conducted. The doubling time in the analysis of the exponential growth phase gave close values for both media (SM = 53 h, MM = 51 h). The rest of the data were analyzed and means compared by t-Test using SPSS software at 5% significance level. At the end of the experiment (10th day) the mean value of biomass yield was 823.743 mg/l and 832.498 mg/l for the MM and SM respectively. Cell productivity was 83.221 mg l-1day-1 for the SM and 82.374 mg mgl-1day-1 for the MM. The crude protein content of biomass was 50.53% and to 51.93 % in the MM and SM respectively. The odour of Spirulina in SM was rated 6.333 and that of the MM was rated 5.666, while the taste of the SM was 5.888 and the MM was 5.666. Comparison of the two mean values of yield, proximate analysis and sensory analysis showed that there was no statistically significant difference between the products in the SM and MM. This justifies that Trona can be used in the culture medium to cultivate Spirulina for human consumption. Finally, Spirulina production and processing technology has been outlined. Key words: Culture medium, production, Spirulina, Trona.