Albert Schweitzer Hospital

About: Albert Schweitzer Hospital is a healthcare organization based out in Lambaréné, Gabon. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Plasmodium falciparum. The organization has 1029 authors who have published 1568 publications receiving 43581 citations.

Meta-Meta-analysis

Abstract: A meta-meta-analysis is a meta-analysis of multiple meta-analyses. In this chapter a meta-meta-analysis from the authors is performed for the purpose of re-assessment of the pitfalls of the original meta-analyses with increased power and sample size. Also a meta-meta-analysis, performed for meta-learning purposes by Juni et al., and published in the BMJ of 2001, is reviewed.

Subcutaneous Stimulation as an Additional Therapy to Spinal Cord Stimulation for the Treatment of Lower Limb Pain and/or Back Pain: A Feasibility Study

Abstract: Objective: The objective of this study was to demonstrate the efficacy of subcutaneous stimulation (SubQ) as an additional therapy in patients with failed back surgery syndrome (FBSS) with chronic refractory pain, for whom spinal cord stimulation (SCS) was unsuccessful in treating low back pain Study Design: Case series Materials and Methods: FBSS patients with chronic limb and/or low back pain whose conventional therapies had failed received a combination of SCS (8-contact Octad lead) and/or SubQ (4-contact Quad Plus lead(s)) Initially leads were placed in the epidural space for SCS for a trial stimulation to assess response to suppression of limb and low back pain Where SCS alone was insufficient in treating lower back pain, leads were placed superficially in the subcutaneous tissue of the lower back, directly in the middle of the pain area A pulse generator was implanted if patients reported more than 50% pain relief during the trial period Pain intensity for limb and lower back pain was scored separately, using visual analog scale (VAS) Pain and Quebec Back Pain Disability Scale (QBPDS) after 12-month treatment were compared with pain and QBPDS at baseline Results: Eleven FBSS patients, five male and six female (age: 51 ± 8 years; mean ± SD), in whom SCS alone was insufficient in treating lower back pain, were included In nine cases, SubQ was used in combination with SCS to treat chronic lower back and lower extremity pain In two cases only SubQ was used to treat lower back pain SCS significantly reduced limb pain after 12 months (VASbl: 62 ± 14 vs VAS12m: 20 ± 11; p= 0001, N= 8) SubQ stimulation significantly reduced low back pain after 12 months (VASbl: 62 ± 130 vs VAS12m: 32 ± 16; p= 00002, N= 10) Overall pain medication was reduced by more than 70% QBPDS improved from 61 ± 15 to 49 ± 12 (p= 0046, N= 10) Furthermore, we observed that two patients returned to work Conclusion: SubQ may be an effective additional treatment for chronic low back pain in patients with FBSS for whom SCS alone is insufficient in alleviating their pain symptoms

Cord Blood Dendritic Cell Subsets in African Newborns Exposed to Plasmodium falciparum In Utero

Abstract: Placental Plasmodium falciparum infection affects birth outcomes and sensitizes fetal lymphocytes to parasite antigens. We assessed the influence of maternal P. falciparum infection on fetal myeloid dendritic cells (mDC) and plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDC), analyzing the cord blood of offspring of Gabonese mothers with different infection histories. Cord blood from newborns of mothers with malarial infection at delivery had significantly more mDC than that from nonexposed newborns (P = 0.028) but mDC and pDC HLA-DR expression was unrelated to maternal infection history. Independently of these findings, cord blood mDC and pDC numbers declined significantly as a function of increasing maternal age (P = 0.029 and P = 0.033, respectively). The inducible antigen-specific interleukin-10-producing regulatory-type T-cell population that we have previously detected in cord blood of newborns with prolonged in utero exposure to P. falciparum may directly reflect the altered DC numbers in such neonates, while the maintenance of cord blood DC HLA-DR expression contrasts with that of DC from P. falciparum malaria patients.