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Public health, production and preservation of food, development of environmentally friendly (cosmeto-)textiles and plastics, synthesis processes using green technology, and improvement of water quality, among other domains, can be controlled with the help of chitosan. It has been demonstrated that this biopolymer exhibits advantageous properties, such as biocompatibility, biodegradability, antimicrobial effect, mucoadhesive properties, film-forming capacity, elicitor of plant defenses, coagulant-flocculant ability, synergistic effect and adjuvant along with other substances and materials. In part, its versatility is attributed to the presence of ionizable and reactive primary amino groups that provide strong chemical interactions with small inorganic and organic substances, macromolecules, ions, and cell membranes/walls. Hence, chitosan has been used either to create new materials or to modify the properties of conventional materials applied on an industrial scale. Considering the relevance of strategic topics around the world, this review integrates recent studies and key background information constructed by different researchers designing chitosan-based materials with potential applications in the aforementioned concerns.

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BACKGROUND: Increasing knowledge and understanding of disease is known to improve outcomes in persons living with a chronic illness. In this paper, we aim to compare the disease knowledge of children with sickle cell disease (SCD), age 6-10 years, who received an intervention (an educational colouring book on SCD) geared towards improving disease knowledge, to those who did not received the colouring book. METHODS: A quasi-experimental study was conducted where disease knowledge was determined in 56 children who had received the colouring book and compared to 60 children who did not receive this intervention. RESULTS: The mean knowledge score was significantly higher in the intervention group (mean difference = 2.65; 95% CI [1.43, 3.86]), as well as in older children and in those in higher grades but there was no difference between sexes. In a multiple regression model (adjusted R2 : 0.39; p value < .001), knowledge score was significantly higher in those who received the intervention (ß: 2.62; 95% CI [1.48, 3.76]) while adjusting for age, gender, persons living at home, and the father's employment status. CONCLUSION: The study highlights that a simple, inexpensive (cost: US$1/book) child-friendly intervention can significantly improve knowledge about SCD even in young children. It also underlines various social factors that are associated with children's understanding of their disease.

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We conducted a case-control study of 33 Jamaican children 7 to 12years old with uncomplicated epilepsy and 33 of their classroom peers matched for age and gender to determine whether epilepsy resulted in differences in cognitive ability and school achievement and if socioeconomic status or the environment had a moderating effect on any differences. Intelligence, language, memory, attention, executive function, and mathematics ability were assessed using selected tests from NEPSY, WISCR, TeaCh, WRAT3 - expanded, and Raven's Coloured Progressive Matrices. The child's environment at home was measured using the Middle Childhood HOME inventory. Socioeconomic status was determined from a combination of household, crowding, possessions, and sanitation. We compared the characteristics of the cases and controls and used random effects regression models (using the matched pair as the cluster) to examine the relationship between cognition and epilepsy. We found that there was no significant difference in IQ, but children with epilepsy had lower scores on tests of memory (p<0.05), language (p<0.05), and attention (p<0.01) compared with their controls. In random effects models, epilepsy status had a significant effect on memory (coefficient=-0.14, CI: -0.23, -0.05), language (coefficient=-0.13, CI: -0.23, -0.04), and mathematics ability (coefficient=-0.01, CI: -0.02, -0.00). Adjustment for the home environment and socioeconomic status and inclusion of interaction terms for these variables did not alter these effects. In conclusion, we found that epilepsy status in Jamaican children has a significant effect on performance on tests of memory, language, and mathematics and that this effect is not modified or explained by socioeconomic status or the child's home environment.

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Our objective was to assess the levels of nitric oxide (NO) in pre-eclampsia and to investigate its effect on blood pressure (BP) in the Jamaican population. A total of 103 participants (50 pre-eclampsia, 53 controls) were recruited from the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI). Blood samples were collected in the fasting state and trimester BP measurements were obtained from their records. A commercially available kit supplied by Oxford Biomedical Research Inc. (MI, USA) was used to measure plasma levels of NO. All measures of booking BP were significantly higher in women who later developed pre-eclampsia compared with those whose pregnancies remained normotensive (p 0.05. We concluded that in the Jamaican population, booking BP measurements may be predictors of pre-eclampsia and NO production increases in pre-eclampsia but is not related to the height of the BP.

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OBJECTIVE: To determine the factors that may predispose and contribute to the development of Pre-eclampsia (P-E) in Jamaican women. METHOD: Women diagnosed with P-E (hypertension with proteinuria and/or oedema after 20 weeks of gestation) were recruited from the prenatal ward at the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI). Controls (women without chronic illnesses that would affect blood pressure, abruptio placentae, placenta praevia or gestational diabetes) were matched for age and gestational age. Fasting blood samples were collected. Clinical data were obtained from the dockets. Differences were estimated by the Students' t-test and ANOVA using the SPSS statistical package. RESULTS: To date, 43 women with P-E and 18 controls have been recruited. Data from the dockets showed that there were significant differences between cases and controls in weight (p=0.003), body mass index (BMI) (p=0.001), diastolic blood pressure (DBP) (p=0.001), and mean arterial pressure (MAP) (p=0.010) at booking. The systolic blood pressure was not significantly different. DBP, SBP and MAP in the second trimester were also significantly different between cases and controls (p=0.000). In the third trimester, women who developed P-E had significantly higher levels of serum gammaglutamyl transferase (GGT) (p=0.001), alkaline phosphate (p=0.02) and urea (p=0.04). Levels of uric acid were the same in controls and cases. There was no difference in levels of cholesterol and tryglicerides. However, high-density lipoproteins (HDL) were lower in cases than in control (1.26ñ0.36 vs 1.80ñ0.56 mmol/l) (p=0.000), while levels of low-density lipoproteins (VLDL) were the same in both groups. When P-E was classified into mild, moderate and severe, there were significant differences in booking and second trimester MAP (p=0.004), 0.027, respectively) and DBP (p=0.012, 0.030, respectivley). LDL was significantly different (p=0.003 between the women with mild PE (2.63 mmol/lñ0.91) and those with severe PE (3.93 mmol/lñ1.01). CONCLUSION: Booking weight, BMI, DBP and MAP could help to identify women who may be at risk of developing P-E. Differences in HDL between cases and controls and differences in LDL among the pre-eclamptic women indicate that P-E is associated with alterations in lipid status. (AU)

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The follow-up of HBV markers in selected high infection risk populations, in patients from the hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis services was used to assess the effectiveness of a special vaccination program. Viral infection markers were studied in prevalence cross sections of the whole population of patients, and also by recording the reports of clinical cases of hepatitis B occurred during that period in those groups of patients. The prevention program consisted of the vaccination of all patients negative to the viral markers and the indication of vaccination for the new cases during the period of the kidney disease, just before the start of the treatment at the hemodialysis unit; besides all the persons susceptible to infection that had already been included in the program, regardless of the stage of the disease. The results show the benefit of the vaccination in these patients, but it is more effective in the period before the treatment with dialysis where there is a lower possibility of being exposed to the virus and the immune system is still competent. Once the program was established, after a follow up o 6 years, there have been no reports of new cases of hepatitis B and the incidence of the disease has been declining.

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Twenty-two isolates of St. Louis encephalitis (SLE) virus of various geographical origins (Brazil, Argentina, Panama, Texas, Missouri, Maryland, California, and Florida) were examined for genetic variation by the base excision sequence scanning (BESS T-scan) method. A fragment was amplified in the envelope gene with the forward primer labeled in the PCR. The BESS T-scan method determined different clusters according to the profiles generated for the isolates and successfully grouped the isolates according to their geographical origins. Two major clusters, the North American cluster (cluster A) and the South and Central American cluster (cluster B), were defined. Two subgroups, the Texas-California subgroup (subgroup A1) and the Missouri-Maryland-Florida subgroup (subgroup A2), were distinguished within group A. Similarly, group B strains were subclustered to a South American subgroup (subgroup B1) and a Central American subgroup (subgroup B2). These results were consistent with those obtained by DNA sequencing analysis. The ability of the BESS T-scan method to discriminate between strains that present with high degrees of nucleotide sequence similarity indicated that this method provides reliable results and multiple applications for other virus families. The method has proven to be suitable for phylogenetic comparison and molecular epidemiology studies and may be an alternative to DNA sequencing.

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