Antenatal care utilization and its determinants in fragile and conflict-affected situations in Sekota Zuria District, Northern Ethiopia, 2022: A community-based cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Access to maternal and reproductive health services has been one of the most affected components by armed conflict. Understanding how fragility and conflict may restrict access to maternal health services and promoting situation-specific policy options are crucial for reducing the effects. As a result, this study intends to assess the antenatal care service usage and associated factors in vulnerable and conflict-affected situations in Sekota zuria district, Northern Ethiopia. METHODS: A community-based cross-sectional study design was employed on 593 mothers who had given birth in the past two years preceding the survey in the Sekota zuria district from October 15 to 30, 2022. The data were collected by using an interviewer-administered structured and pretested questionnaire. To pinpoint the determining factors, a bivariable and multivariable logistic regression model was applied. For both steps, variables were deemed significant if they had a P-value of lower than 0.05. We use adjusted odds ratios to measure how strongly the dependent and outcome variables are related. RESULTS: The prevalence of antenatal care service utilization in the study area was 54.5%, 95% CI: 50.0-58.0%. Considering prenatal visits as routine prenatal checkups (AOR = 2.54, 95% CI: 1.74-3.69), using healthcare providers as a source of information (AOR = 2.30, 95% CI: 1.38-3.81), planned pregnancies (AOR = 1.74, 95% CI: 1.07-2.82), were positively associated with utilization of antenatal care. Whereas, respondents' restricted movement because of insecurity negatively affected the service utilization (AOR = 0.30, 95% CI: 0.18-0.49) CONCLUSIONS: The antenatal care utilization in the study area was 54.5%. Respondents' restricted movement because of insecurity negatively affected the service utilization during the fragile and conflict-affected situation. So it demands designing context and vulnerable group-specific healthcare policies and strategies in fragile and conflict-affected situations. It is also very important to strengthen the availability and accessibility of maternal healthcare services in conflict-affected areas through outreach initiatives and mobile clinics.

Characteristics of recent clinical investigations into systemic therapy against cervical cancer: systematic analysis of trial details from Clinicaltrials.gov.

A review that systematically assessed the current state of clinical research into systematic therapy-based interventions against invasive cervical cancer. It analysed registry details of 59 systemic therapy-based cervical cancer trials on ClinicalTrials.gov with study start dates between January 2010 and June 2018. The review characterised the present cervical cancer trial landscape in terms of trial design features, systemic therapy (chemotherapy, targeted therapy, immunotherapy, and repurposed therapy), and disease stages of interest. It also made an attempt to qualitatively synthesise the trial landscape in terms of the nature and trend of research focus, alignment with existing clinical needs, novelty of treatments or concepts pursued, and promise of new treatments.

Health Extension Workers Knowledge and Associated Factors on Child Immunization in Bako Tibe, West Shewa, Oromia, Ethiopia: A Cross-Sectional Study.

PURPOSE: To assess health extension workers knowledge of child immunization schedules and associated factors. METHODS: A cross-sectional study design was conducted among health extension workers working in Bako Tibe Woreda. The data were collected by using semi-structured questionnaires, and descriptive statistics were used to summarize the data. Chi-square (χ 2) was used to identify factors associated with the knowledge of health extension workers on the immunization schedules. RESULTS: The response rate of the study was 92.1% (58/63). All of the health extension workers included in the study were females. The majority of health extension workers 45 (77.59%) had satisfactory knowledge of the child immunization schedule. Educational status (χ 2 = 11.05; P= 0.001), work experience of as health extension workers (χ 2 = 6.22; P= 0.045), on job training on immunization (χ 2 = 11.12; P= 0.002), marital status (χ 2 = 6.30; P= 0.019) were factors associated with health extension workers knowledge. CONCLUSION: The majority of health extension workers had satisfactory knowledge of the child immunization schedule. Educational status, work experience as health extension worker, on job training on immunization, and marital status were factors associated with the knowledge of health extension workers on the child immunization schedule.

Ethnomedicine Claim Directed in Silico Prediction of Anticancer Activity.

BACKGROUND: The merits of ethnomedicine-led approach to identify and prioritize anticancer medicinal plants have been challenged as cancer is more likely to be poorly understood in traditional medicine practices. Nonetheless, it is also believed that useful data can be generated by combining ethnobotanical findings with available scientific studies. Thus, this study combined an ethnobtanical study with ligand based in silico screening to identify relevant medical plants and predict their anticancer potential based on their phytoconstiutents reported in scientific literatures. METHODS: First, relevant medicinal plants were identified through an ethnobotanical survey. A list of phytochemicals was prepared based on literature review of articles which reported on the natural products of identified medicinal plants. Then, their phytochemicals were subjected to in silico evaluation, which included a hybrid score similarity measure, rule of five, Ghose-Viswanadhan-Wendoloski (GVW)-indices and structural features criteria, to predict their anticancer activity and drugability. RESULTS: A total of 18 medicinal plants and 265 phytoconstituents were identified. The natural product pool constituted 109(41.13%) terpenoids, 67(25.28%) phenolics, 29(10.94%) simple and functionalized hydrocarbons, 26(9.81%) alkaloids, 25(9.43%) glycosides and 9(3.40%) compounds belonging to different phytochemical classes. The similarity measure using CDRUG identified 34(12.73%) phytochemicals with high (p-Value < 0.05) and 35(13.21%) with moderate possibility (p-Value < 0.1) of anticancer activity. In fact, three of the predicted compounds had the same structure with known anticancer compounds (HSCORE=1). The 80% GVW-indices based antineoplastic drugabilityranges were all mate by 25 of the predicted compounds. Predicted compounds were also shown to have ring structures and functional groups deemed important for anticancer activity. CONCLUSIONS: Given the findings, there is a promising anticancer activity by the traditionally used medicinal plants and a potential for the predicted phytochemicals to be pursued as possible hits or me-too drugs.

Effect of Rumex Abyssinicus on preneoplastic lesions in dimethylhydrazine induced colon carcinogenesis in rats.

BACKGROUND: Cancer as a multistage process can be reversed or blocked by using chemopreventive agents. Colon cancer chemoprevention has been widely investigated using cyclooxygenase inhibitors and many other chemicals of synthetic or natural origin. This particular study was carried out to assess the colon cancer chemopreventive effect of hydro-methanol extract of Rumex abyssinicus rhizome on rats. METHOD: Colon cancer chemopreventive potential of hydro-methanol extract of Rumex abyssinicus rhizome was determined based on the number and multiplicity of aberrant crypt foci (ACF). Fifteen DMH (1, 2-dimethylhydrazine) treated and five untreated Wistar female rats were used. DMH was administered subcutaneously 30 mg/kg, after its pH was adjusted to 6.5-7. Treatment groups started receiving extract after six weeks of weekly DMH injections. The rats were divided in to four groups: Group 1 received only oral normal saline, Group 2 received DMH and normal saline, Group 3 and 4 received DMH plus 250 mg/kg and 500 mg/kg extract, respectively. Specific phytoconstituents of the plant, which were reviewed from original articles, were virtually evaluated for cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibition. The binding energies and interactions of the phytochemicals from Rumex abyssinicus against COX-2 were determined by Autodock4.2. RESULTS: There was a statistically significant reduction (p-value < 0.05) in the number of aberrant crypt (AC) and aberrant crypt foci (ACF) at both administered doses. However, significant association (p-value > 0.05) was not observed in reducing crypt multiplicity. The docking process resulted in estimated binding energies [-6.83 kcal/mol to -7.9 kcal/mol] which are closer to the positive controls or Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs) [-4.55 kcal/mol to -10.84 kcal/mol]. The phytochemical-COX-2 interaction indicated the involvement of key amino acid residues in inhibition of cyclooxygenase like ARG120, TYR355, TYR385, SER530 and GLY526. CONCLUSIONS: Rumex abyssinicus had demonstrated a chemopreventive potential at post-initiation stage. As the virtual screening data suggested, COX-2 inhibition by the anthraquinones in the extract could be one mechanism for the observed chemopreventive effect.