• Bright Godwin posted an update 6 days, 6 hours ago

    Only 10% obtained a method on site, and in-depth interview respondents reported they could not afford or did not like the options available. At the follow-up survey, 23% of respondents were using their preferred method. Women cited cost or lack of insurance coverage and difficulties scheduling appointments with community clinicians as reasons for not using their preferred method. CONCLUSIONS Mississippi women have a large unmet demand for postabortion contraception. Policies that support on-site provision of contraception at abortion facilities would help women to realize their contraceptive preferences. PURPOSE There is a clear benefit in defining internal (IA) and corneal astigmatic error (CA) prior to surgical and other refractive interventions, such as orthokeratology, to minimise risk of unsatisfactory refractive outcomes. Such data would also be of relevance to broader areas of ophthalmic care such as spectacle dispensing and other types of rigid lens fitting. This study offers a detailed characterisation of astigmatic error in a group of university students and specifically investigates compensation of corneal astigmatism by the eye’s internal optics. METHODS For 176 young-adult participants, objective measurements of refractive error were obtained using the open-view Grand Seiko WAM-5500 autorefractor; corneal curvature and axial length were measured using the Aladdin biometer. Clinical measurements of corneal and refractive astigmatism were converted into vector components J0 and J45; followed by an assessment of corneal astigmatism compensation. RESULTS Mean total refractive astigmatism (RA), CA, and IA were 0.24 ± 0.32D, 0.46 ± 0.27D and -0.21 ± 0.25D respectively for J0 and -0.05 ± 0.20D, 0.01 ± 0.16D, and -0.06 ± 0.18D for J45. Significant linear correlations were noted between RA, CA, and IA for both J0 and J45 (P less then 0.01). A significant linear regression was also noted between axial length and J45 RA and IA, but not CA. Levels of full compensation were low, 7% and 9% for J0 and J45 respectively, however, a complete absence of compensation was also uncommon particularly for J45 (2%). CONCLUSIONS In general, partial compensation for corneal astigmatism by the eye’s internal optics is noted, but it is unclear whether this is an active compensatory mechanism. Further, larger scale, studies would be required to characterise differences in corneal astigmatic compensation with respect to ethnicity. RESEARCH QUESTION Chinese women are known to have an earlier age of natural menopause than their European counterparts, but whether they also have a lower functional ovarian reserve is unknown. This study was designed to assess whether there are ethnic differences in anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) concentrations in women of reproductive age. DESIGN Women in China and Europe with regular menstrual cycles, not on hormonal contraception and with no medical history of note, were recruited to provide a day 2-5 early follicular phase sample. AMH concentration was determined using the Roche Elecsys assay. Decline in AMH was modelled with linear, quadratic and quadratic with interaction on age equations to assess the impact of ethnicity. UGT8-IN-1 supplier RESULTS A total of 887 European and 461 Chinese women participated in the study. Despite the Chinese population being slightly younger (34.1 ± 8.4 years) than their European counterparts (34.8±8.9 years), their median AMH was lower, at 1.87 ng/ml (interquartile range [IQR] 0.28-3.64) compared with 2.11 ng/ml (IQR 0.73-3.96), with evidence of increasing discordance from age 25 years. In all regression models of the age-related decline in AMH, there was evidence of a difference between Chinese and European women. Although AMH was 28.1% (95% confidence interval [CI] 18.2-36.7%) lower in the Chinese population at age 30, this decline increased to 79.4% (95% CI 75.4- 82.9%) at age 45. CONCLUSIONS There were independent effects of age and ethnicity on serum AMH concentrations, with Chinese women having a substantially lower AMH in adult life than their European counterparts from age 25 onwards. The prevalence of type 2 diabetes (DM2) diagnosed in childhood and adolescence is currently increasing, and is characterised by a rapidly progressive decline in beta-cells and insulin resistance. Physical inactivity and obesity are the main risk factors for its development. Diagnostic criteria are similar to those used in adults, although HbA1c as a diagnostic method is questioned. Diabetes-related complications are more aggressive than in adults. Diabetic nephropathy is the most frequent complication in the young population and macrovascular complications appear early, leading to high mortality rates. Healthy lifestyles are the basis of the treatment, and metformin, insulin and liraglutide (approved by FDA for its use in the United States) are the pharmacological options indicated in this population. It is important to establish models of health care transition from paediatric to adult care to ensure continuity of care and avoid patient disengagements. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) causes severe infectious diseases and can be life-threatening in healthcare-settings. MRSA is classified into health-care associated (HA)-MRSA strains and community acquired (CA)-MRSA strains based on genotype and phenotype. CA-MRSA has been reported to show the lower minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) of some antibiotics as compared to HA-MRSA. Recently, the prevalence of CA-MRSA has been increased in worldwide. CA-MRSA is isolated not only from the healthy individuals in a community but also from the patients in healthcare settings. However, the changing trend in frequency of HA-MRSA and CA-MRSA in the hospital setting is not clear. Therefore, we analyzed the trend of MIC to speculate the frequency of HA-MRSA and CA-MRSA in the facility. Moreover, gene mutations were evaluated on resistant gene loci with next generation sequencer. The frequency of strains with low MIC of beta-lactam antibiotics was gradually increased in isolated MRSA strains from the hospitalized patients. Whole genome analysis revealed the frequency of gene mutation was also decreased in some resistant loci, such as blaZ and blaR1. These findings highlight the changing trend of MRSA strains isolated from hospitalized patients.