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Introduction: Assessment of cognitive impairment is recommended as part of the comprehensive care of psychotic disorders. Brief neuropsychological assessments are particularly needed in low resource settings, but few reviews have focused on work done in this context. We aimed to undertake a systematic review of work done in low- and middle-income countries on brief neuropsychological assessments of cognitive impairment in psychotic disorders. Method: A systematic review was performed following PRISMA guidelines. We searched PubMed, Embase and PsycINFO for articles in which a brief neuropsychological test was used to assess cognitive impairment in patients with psychotic disorders in a low- and middle- income country (LMIC) context. Data on whether tests had been validated against the gold standard was abstracted. Data was also abstracted on the tests used, the domains assessed, personnel performing the tests, duration of tests and were abstracted. Results: A total of 29 articles met the inclusion criteria; these studied 3,184 participants with psychosis and 1,261 controls. No test was validated against a gold standard such as the MATRICS consensus cognitive battery. There was marked variability in the tests used, but most were delivered using pen and paper and assessed for cognitive impairment in the reasoning and problem solving domain. All but two publications used highly skilled personnel to perform the assessments.Conclusion: Although a few studies have focused on neuropsychological assessment of cognitive impairment in psychotic disorders in the LMIC context, none compared a brief neuropsychological test with a gold standard. Further work is therefore needed to determine the validity of brief neuropsychological assessment of cognitive impairment in psychotic disorders in these settings.

Background: Clinical practice, for a long time, has dwelt on study and management of pyogenic abscesses without distinction between nosocomial and community-acquired types. This study aimed at identifying the bacteria isolated from community-acquired acute subcutaneous and soft tissue pyogenic abscesses. It also determined their sensitivity to a wide range of antibiotics. Methods: The cross-sectional study was conducted in Mulago hospital, between August and December, 2011. Consecutive, convenient sampling was used to attain a sample size of 130 subjects, with all age groups eligible. They were treated for the abscesses by incision and drainage. The pus was subjected to bacterial culturing and drug sensitivity testing. Data was analysed using STATA version 11.2. Results: The median age was 21.6 years; with females constituting 43.9%, and 10.8% were HIV positive persons. The predominant organism isolated was Staphylococcus aureus (53.9%), followed by coliform organisms (14-1%). Mixed infections, mostly with Staphylococcus aureus, constituted 8.6%. Staphylococcus aureus was most susceptible to ciprofloxacin and showed greatest resistance to chloramphenicol. Coliform organisms were most susceptible amikacin and showed greatest resistance to augmentin. Conclusions: The predominant bacterium isolated from these pyogenic abscesses is Staphylococcus aureus. It is most susceptible to ciprofloxacin and resistant to chloramphenicol. There is benefit in conducting a larger study with more antibiotic sensitivity tests and specific bacterial type dentification. Recommendations can then be made for appropriate antibiotic policies.