3 research outputs found
Role of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D (vitamin D3) as immunomodulator in recurrent missed miscarriage
No full textObjective: To evaluate the immunomodulatory role of vitamin D3 in prevention of pregnancy loss in cases of recurrent miscarriage.
Patients and methods: A total of 40 pregnant women with gestational age at or less than 6 weeks with recurrent miscarriage were enrolled in the present study and randomly assigned to study and control group each (n = 20 for each group) after fulfilling certain inclusion and exclusion criteria. All participants were assessed through complete history, general and obstetric history, ultrasound assessment and routine full laboratory evaluation. IFN-γ was assessed at ⩽6 week gestation on recruitment, then after treatment every 2 weeks till 14th week for both groups. Both groups received standard measures for cases with recurrent miscarriage. Study group participants were treated with oral vitamin D3 supplementation. Outcome measures included continuing pregnancy rate and change in INF-γ values between first and final assays.
Results: No statistically significant difference was noted between both groups regarding baseline demographic, clinical characteristics and ultrasonographic findings. Control group participants were found to have significantly higher levels of IFN-γ compared to the study group after treatment. Risk of miscarriage was 15% lower among the study group than the control group. Continuing pregnancy rate was 70% in the study group and 55% in the control group. No significant difference was found between both groups regarding symptoms suggesting vitamin D3 side effects.
Conclusion: Although statistically insignificant, vitamin D3 oral supplementation has resulted in reducing risk of pregnancy loss up to 15% among women with recurrent miscarriage so it is a matter that is worth more attention and large scale studies with larger sample size may result in more significant results
The public sector in the Caribbean : issues and reform options
No full textThe public sector's performance in the Caribbean varies, in reducing poverty and in creating an enabling environment for growth. Barbados and the Bahamas have been the high performers, Guyana and the Dominican Republic have been sluggish, and the other Caribbean countries fall in between. In the Caribbean region, the public sector is now the predominant provider of tertiary education and health services (university education and hospital-based curative care), which mainly benefit the nonpoor. Attempts must be made to recover costs from high-income users and use that revenue to improve the quality and quantity (as appropriate) of basic services. Lessons from experience suggest that most Caribbean countries need to encourage the private sector to participate more in providing infrastructure and need to provide a better regulatory framework. The good news: this is already taking place in many countries.Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Public Health Promotion,Public Sector Economics&Finance,Decentralization,Environmental Economics&Policies,Public Sector Economics&Finance,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Poverty Assessment,National Governance,Inequality
Protein and energy nutrition of marine gadoids, Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua L.) and haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus L.)
No full text Primary goals of this thesis were to: 1) examine the in vivo digestion of macronutrients from conventional or alternative feed ingredients used in practical diets of juvenile gadoids (Atlantic cod and haddock), 2) document growth potential of fish at the juvenile grower phase given varying levels of dietary protein and energy and 3) assess the potential of in vitro pH-Stat methods for rapid screening protein quality of feed ingredients, specifically for gadoids. All primary research questions were linked to and built upon one another with the goal of gaining a better understanding of protein and energy utilization of juvenile grower phase gadoids. Studies showed that cod and haddock have a high capacity to utilize a wide range of dietary feed ingredients, such as fish meals, zooplankton meal, soybean products (meal, concentrate and isolate) and wheat gluten meal. New dietary formulations for gadoids may also utilize pulse meals, corn gluten meal, canola protein concentrate and crab meal. Digestibility data in this thesis is currently the only research that examined both in vivo and in vitro macronutrient digestibility of a large number and wide range of individual ingredients, specifically for gadoids. This is essential to gain new knowledge on protein and energy utilization as well as for least-cost ration formulations and effective substitution of ingredients into new formulations. Data has demonstrated a dietary digestible protein/digestible energy (DP/DE)ratio of 30 g DP/MJ DE is required for gadoids during the juvenile phase (in vitro closed-system pH-Stat assay for rapid screening protein quality of test ingredients that is ‘species-specific’ to gadoids. It is demonstrated that in vitro results generally reflected results obtained through conventional in vivo protein digestibility methods. Studies resulted in the first generation of a ‘gadoid-specific’ proteolytic enzyme extraction method and in vitro closed-system pH-Stat assay which may be useful to investigate protein digestion, absorption and metabolism of gadoids and further development of their feeds. </p
