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African Health Sciences
Makerere University Medical School
ISSN: 1680-6905 EISSN: 1729-0503
Vol. 8, Num. 4, 2008, pp. i
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African Health Sciences, Vol. 8, No. 4, Dec, 2008, pp. i
EDITOR'S CHOICE
James K Tumwine
Editor in chief
Code Number: hs08043
Welcome to this Christmas 2008 edition of African Health
Sciences in which we bring you a diverse but very interesting papers.
We also welcome you to our online manuscript submission
system launched in 2008, thanks to ScholarOne. More about that later!
In their seminal paper on multiplicity of
malaria infection, Uganda researchers show that infection with
multiple strains of P. falciparum that germ that cause malaria,
reduces response to anti malarial medicines.
In another paper Nahirya and colleagues report an
alarming situation: 1 in 5 of intravenous catheters had been colonized
by bacteria. Yet intravenous catheters have become an
essential component of clinical practice. However given that the use
of intravenous catheters is on the rise in our region, where it is
not uncommon to find patients walking on the street
with intravenous catheters, there is urgent need to review their
use and find means of preventing what is potentially a very
serious situation.
Nigerian workers report that treatment naïve
HIV infected patients have a defective blood flow and
fibrinolytic system which might predispose to cardiovascular disease. This
is problematic given the fact that some antiretroviral
drugs predispose to cardiovascular disease themselves. Ugandan
and Swedish researchers report an interesting study on access
and use of medicine information sources in public hospitals
in Uganda. They found that most physicians in public
hospitals have limited access to unbiased drug information. A
disturbing finding given that Uganda was at the fore front of giving
essential drug information to health workers since the days of the
Essential Drugs Programme.
The iodine story does not seem to go away in
Africa despite widespread iodization of salt in many sub
Saharan countries. It is not clear why in Cameroon there are still
dangers of iodine deficiency. In their study of youth in west
Cameroon, Taga and others have found that 17-29% of boys were
iodine deficient, with a slightly lower prevalence in girls. The
authors discuss the reasons and possible solutions.
The rest of the papers range from p53 expression
in colorectal carcinoma in Ugandan patients, to factors
associated with malnutrition among children in camps for the
internally displace in northern Uganda. As the war against the
Lord's resistance Army (LRA) intensifies, we need to keep in
mind Olwedo et al's paper that reports a very high prevalence
of malnutrition amongst these displace children. Over 50% of
the children were stunted, with a high prevalence of
acute malnutrition.
Finally I wanted to remind our readers, authors
and reviewers about the online manuscript submission and editing.
Please visit the ScholarOne website on: http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/mums-ahs
You should then register, and go through the process of
either submitting or reviewing manuscripts. Remember that you
can freely access published articles on PUBMED and
BIOLINE. The contents and other details are also available on
African Journals online (AJOL). MERA kindly publishes and
circulates African Health Sciences in Africa.
Finally let me thank our editorial staff, the Principal and
Deputy Principal of the Makerere University College of Health
Sciences, the Deans of the new four schools of Medicine, Public
Health, Biomedical Sciences, and Health Sciences for your
enormous support to African Health Sciences. We also wish to
thank ScholarOne, SPI Publishers, and the African Journals
Project for support.
References
- Daniel J. Kyabayinze, Charles Karamagi, Moses
Kiggundu, Moses R Kamya, Fred Wabwire-Mangen, Fred
Kironde, Ambrose Talisuna. Multiplicity of Plasmodium
falciparum infection predicts antimalarial treatment outcome in
Ugandan Children. African Health Sciences 2008; 8(4): 200-205
- Patricia Nahirya, Justus Byarugaba, Sarah Kiguli,
Deogratias Kaddu-Mulindwa. Intravascular catheter related
infections in children admitted on the paediatric wards of
Mulago hospital, Uganda. African Health
Sciences 2008; 8(4): 206-216
- Richard Omoregie, Judith E. Adeghe, Helen O.
Ogefere, Evelyn U. Omokaro, Chinedu C. Ekeh. Haemorheologic
and fibrinolytic activity in Nigerian HIV infected patients. African Health Sciences 2008; 8(4): 217-219
- Winifred A. Tumwikirize, Jasper W. Ogwal-Okeng,
Åsa Vernby, Willy W. Anokbonggo, Lars L. Gustafsson, Cecilia
S. Lundborg. Access and use of medicines information
sources by physicians in public hospitals in Uganda: a
cross-sectional survey. African Health
Sciences 2008; 8(4): 220-226
- Ibrahim Taga, Valere Aime Soh Oumbe, Robert Johns,
Mohsin Abbas Zaidi, Jeanne Ngogang Yonkeu, Illimar Altosaar.
Youth of West Cameroon are at high risk of developing IDD due
to low dietary iodine and high dietary thiocyanate. African Health Sciences 2008; 8(4): 227-233
- Peter F. Rambau, Michael Odida, Henry Wabinga.
p53 expression in colorectal carcinoma in relation
to histopathological features in Ugandan patients. African Health Sciences 2008; 8(4): 234-238
- Emmanuel, I. Odongo Aginya, Ekkehard
Doehring. Epidemiology, of bilharzias (schistosomiasis) in Uganda
from 1902 until 2005. African Health
Sciences 2008; 8(4):239-243
- Mary Abwola Olwedo, Edison Mworozi, Hanifa
Bachou, Christopher Garimoi Orach. Factors associated
with malnutrition among children in internally displaced
person's camps, northern Uganda. African Health Sciences 2008; 8(4): 244-252
- Lamina S and Hanif S. Pattern of Ptosis in Kano
North-West Nigeria. African Health Sciences 2008; 8(4): 253-255
- James. Opio, E. Kiguli-Malwadde, R.K.
Byanyima. Coarctation of aorta presenting as acute haemorrhagic
stroke in a 14-year old. A case report. African Health
Sciences 2008; 8(4): 256-258
- Akomea-Agyin C , Galukande M, Mwambu T, Ttendo S,
Clarke I. Pioneer Human Open Heart Surgery using
cardiopulmonary by pass in Uganda. African Health
Sciences 2008; 259-260
- Usama ALAlami and Ross G. Cooper. Workshops on
healthy lifestyle to adolescents.African Health Sciences 2008; 8(4): 261
- Usama ALAlami and Ross G. Cooper. Health and social
care curricula future perspectives for learner experience
in Europe and Africa. African Health Sciences 2008; 8(4):
261-262
© Copyright 2008 - Makerere Medical School, Uganda
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