European Journal of Medicine

43-49

Authors: Tran Tuan Anh, Nguyen Phan Hong An, Tran Van Dang, Truong Manh Dung, Vo Truong Nhu Ngoc, Nguyen Thi Thu Phuong, Hoang Bao Duy

Objectives: to assess the efficiency of diode laser in the treatment of recurrent aphthous stomatitis – RAS. Method: conduct control clinical trials on 2 groups: group A (not use laser) and group B (use laser). Results: *Post-treatment pain: In group A, 34 patients (92%) suffered from pain on the first day after treatment, 30 patients (81%) suffered from pain on the 2nd day; on the third day, 24 patients still felt painful (65%); on the fourth day 8 patients still felt painful (22%); on the fifth day, there was still 1 patient who suffered from pain (2.7%) and from the 6th day onwards, no more patients had to suffer from pain. There is no difference of statistical significance in the ratio % between male and female patients who suffered from pain after treatment (p>0.05). In Group B, 29 patients (78.4%) felt painful on the first day after treatment, in addition 17 patients (46%) suffered from pain on the second day, from the third day, 5 patients still suffered from pain (13.5%), and from the fourth day, no patients claimed to feel painful. *Level of pain: observations from the two research groups have shown that when used in treatment, diode laser has led to obvious pain relief, specifically, in group B, only 29 patients suffered from pain at level 1 and 8 patients suffered from mild pain at level 2 and no patients had pain at level 3. In group A, 1 patient suffered from pain at level 1 and 36 patients were reported to suffer from pain at level 2 or level 3.* Healing: in group A, 28 ulcers were healed on the fifth day, accounting for 27.5%; on the sixth day, 31 ulcers were healed, equivalent to 83.8%; on the seventh day, there were 35 ulcers which were healed, equivalent to 95.6%. In group B: 18.9% of ulcers were healed after the fourth day; on the fifth day, that number was 34 ulcers (91.9%); on the sixth day, all ulcers were healed. * Patients’ satisfaction level: we recorded that up to 94.6 % of patients were very satisfied of the treatment result, only 02 patients were not satisfied with the new treatment method (8.3%) and no dissatisfaction was recorded.

54-63

Authors: Jacob Owusu Sarfo , Patrick Kwaku Ofori

The aim of this study was to apply meta-ethnography to synthesise qualitative studies in the area of diabetes care in Ghana, Cameroon and Nigeria. Full text qualitative studies were collected from several recognised electronic databases to select quality papers for the analysis. Controlling for all possible selection biases, we chose eight standard peer reviewed qualitative studies in the area of diabetes mellitus. Subsequently, we pragmatically applied the seven-stage procedure of Noblit and Hare to conduct a meta-ethnography. As a qualitative alternative to meta-analysis, the meta-ethnography approach allowed us to employ both induction and interpretation. Subsequently, the following five concepts: tripartite aetiology; healer choice; adherence; coping strategies; and discriminatory switch were derived. In addition, we also derived second-order and third-order interpretations from our synthesis. Although we do not intend to make any generalisation claim, our study offered to illuminate a more coherent story about diabetes care within the West African mind so far.