Five-year trend of antipsychotic prescription practices in a district Hospital in Ghana: A retrospective study.

INTRODUCTION: Antipsychotics are the mainstay treatment for psychotic conditions. Their prescription, however, should come with some caution since the consequences of their side effects can be dire for the patient receiving the prescription. Because of inadequate experts in low-middle-income countries, non-experts are trained through the Mental Health Gap Action Program (MHGAP) to reduce the treatment gap. This retrospective study analyzed the trend of antipsychotic prescriptions in a district hospital where mental health services are delivered by non-experts. METHODOLOGY: This was a retrospective descriptive study that gathered data between 2015 and 2019 from the electronic database of the hospital. Statistical analysis was conducted using SPSS version 20. We reported the descriptive statistics of our findings in the form of frequencies and percentages. RESULTS: There was a year-on-year increase in antipsychotic prescriptions over the study period. Starting with 48.1% in 2015 to 56.4% in 2019. The main condition for which antipsychotics were prescribed was psychosis (58.6%), followed by substance use disorder (SUD) (26%). Patients with age ≥ 50 received the most prescription of antipsychotics. Starting from 2015, there was a high percentage of typical antipsychotic prescriptions (90.14%) with atypical antipsychotics being 9.86% and by 2019 atypical antipsychotic prescriptions had shot up to 74.8%. Polypharmacy prescription rate was 8.1% over the study period. CONCLUSION: Antipsychotics are essential in the treatment of psychosis and other mental health conditions. Prescribers need to know more about these drugs to prescribe them appropriately and to minimize the likelihood of side effects among patients who use these drugs.

Recuento de actinomyces en saliva como predictores microbiológico de caries / Count of actinomyces in saliva as microbiological predictors of caries

Introduction: La caries dental es definida como un proceso infeccioso, multifactorial y crónico. Actualmente se realiza el recuento en saliva del grupo Streptococcus mutans, Lactobacillus y Candida. El género Actinomyces se considera agente etiológico de caries, pero no existen pruebas que hayan evaluado el nivelde este microorganismo en saliva. El objetivo de este trabajo es determinar la correlación entre los nivelesde Actinomyces en saliva y los indicadores clínicos de riesgo y actividad cariogénica para utilizar el recuentode estos microorganismos como predictor de riesgo de caries. Métodos: 33 estudiantes entre 19 y 24 años, de ambos sexos, fueron incluidos en este estudio. Los mismos se clasificaron en 3 grupos: sanos, con riesgo cariogénico y con actividad cariogénica según los siguientes indicadores clínicos: Índice O?Leary, Nº decaries amelodentinarias abiertas, frecuencia de cepillado y momentos de azúcar. Muestras de saliva fueron sembradas en Agar Brucella con hemina, vitamina K y 5% de sangre. Se incubó en anaerobiosis por 7 díasy se realizó el recuento de Actinomyces y microbiota acompañante. Resultados: Hubo diferencias estadísticamente significativas en el recuento de la microbiota total y los niveles en saliva de Actinomyces, entre losestudiantes sanos con los que poseen riesgo y aquellos con actividad cariogénica. Conclusión: El presenteestudio conduce a proponer la utilización del recuento de Actinomyces como predictores de riesgo de caries conjuntamente con el recuento del grupo Streptococcus mutans, Lactobacillus y Candida

[Effect of metabolic substances of oral Actinomyces on Candida albicans]. / Efecto de sustancias metabólicas de Actinomyces orales sobre Candida albicans.

Actinomyces naeslundii, Actinomyces viscosus and Candida albicans are associated with root cavity. The aim of this study was to determine, in vitro, the effect produced by the metabolic substances elaborated by Actinomyces naeslundii and Actinomyces viscosus on Candida albicans. The strains were isolated of saliva. There were used the double plaque diffusion method (DPDM) and the method of radial diffusion (MRD). The effect of the time of incubation and of different concentrations of metabolic substances elaborated by Actinomyces naeslundii and Actinomyces viscosus on the kinetics of growth of C. albicans were studied. Later, the nature of the substances produced by the two strains of Actinomyces was determined. It was found that there was no inhibition of the growth of C. albicans by A. naeslundii and A. viscosus in the DPDM and the MRD. There was stimulation of the growth of C. albicans by the two strains of Actinomyces when the DPDM was used. In the MRD the results were negative. Metabolic substances produced by both species stimulated the growth of C. albicans in low concentrations but at high concentrations inhibition was observed. The best concentration of the stimulating factor, a protein substance stable to 70 degrees C, corresponds to a dilution of 1/80. The inhibition of the growth of C. albicans was produced by the decrease of the pH, the higher effect being obtained with the dilution 1/5. The metabolic substances produced by A. naeslundii and A. viscosus can have both inhibitory and stimulant effects on C. albicans, according to their concentration. These metabolic interactions would condition the proportion of C. albicans in the oral microbial ecosystems.

Periodontitis juvenil: estudio bacteriologico, clinico y radiologico en un grupo familiar / Juvenile periodontitis: bacteriological, clinical and radiological study of a family group

La periodontitis juvenil es una enfermedad del periodoncio que se presenta generalmente en jóvenes sanos. (5, 10, 7). Esta patología se caracteriza por una migración rápida del epitelio de unión, y el tejido conjuntivo y reabsorción del hueso alveolar en al dentición permanente de adolescentes. (5, 2, 6). Se han descripto dos formas básicas de periodontitis juvenil: Periodontitis Juvenil Localizada (PJL), que afecta a los primeros molares e incisivos y Periodontitis Juvenil Generalizada (PJG), en la cual está comprometida la mayoría de las piezas dentarias, ésta se inicia siempre como localizada. (5, 13) (AU)

Periodontitis juvenil: estudio bacteriologico, clinico y radiologico en un grupo familiar / Juvenile periodontitis: bacteriological, clinical and radiological study of a family group

La periodontitis juvenil es una enfermedad del periodoncio que se presenta generalmente en jóvenes sanos. (5, 10, 7). Esta patología se caracteriza por una migración rápida del epitelio de unión, y el tejido conjuntivo y reabsorción del hueso alveolar en al dentición permanente de adolescentes. (5, 2, 6). Se han descripto dos formas básicas de periodontitis juvenil: Periodontitis Juvenil Localizada (PJL), que afecta a los primeros molares e incisivos y Periodontitis Juvenil Generalizada (PJG), en la cual está comprometida la mayoría de las piezas dentarias, ésta se inicia siempre como localizada. (5, 13)