Aim/Background: Sickle cell anaemia (SCA) is the commonest haemoglobinopathy in Nigeria with an incidence of 2-3%. It is a chronic haemolytic anaemic disorder with varied severity of symptoms amongst patients. Chronic physical illnesses are known to provoke psychosocial dysfunction in affected children and their caregivers. This study objectively assessed the reaction of caregivers to the care of their wards with SCA in this locale. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectionaldescriptive study, conducted at the Sickle Cell Centre, Benin City over 8-months period. The Caregivers Reaction Assessment tool(designed to assess specific aspects of the care-giving, including both negative and positive dimensions of caregiving reactions) was administered to the caregivers of children with SCA attending the centre. Results: The 105 respondents studied comprised 17 (16.2%) males and 88 (83.8%) females. Eighty five (81%) of the mothers and 91 (86.6%) of the fathers had at least secondary level of education. Self-esteem, of all the subscale measures, had the highest mean score (4.63 ± 0.50). Self-esteemand lack of family support subscalehad high reliability (internal consistency) with Cronbach α of 0.73 each while financial problem subscalehad moderate reliability with Cronbach α of 0.58. High mean scores were found for disrupted schedule, financial and health problems which imply negative impact on caregivers. Conclusion: Most caregivers experienced disrupted schedules, financial and health problems possibly because SCA crises are acute problems and may require sudden hospital admission with attendant financial and psychological stress to caregivers. The impact of caregiving on self-esteem was positive suggesting high self-esteem among caregivers. Keywords: Caregivers, reaction, children, sickle cell anaemia, Nigeria.
Aim and objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate Depression in diabetics attending the General Practice Clinic of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital with a view to facilitate early detection and intervention. The objectives were to determine the prevalence and pattern of depression, and the relationship between socio-demographic factors and depression among the respondents. Materials and method: This was a cross sectional descriptive study carried out on 200 adult diabetic patients who were recruited using the systematic random sampling technique. Data was collected using a semi-structured interviewer administered questionnaire which included the PHQ-9. Data analysis was done with SPSS version 16. Numerical data were represented as mean±SD while nominal data were represented as frequencies and percentages. The Chi-square analysis and Fisher's exact test were used for relationship between nominal data. A P-value of < 0.05 was taken as significant for all tests. Result: The prevalence of Depression among the 200 respondents was 28.5% (57). Of the 57 depressed respondents, 80.7% (46) had mild depression, 15.8% (9) had moderate Depression and 3.5% (2) had moderately severe Depression based on the PHQ-9. Not earning an income had a statistically significant relationship with having depression in the respondents while other socio-demographic factors were not statistically significant. Conclusion: The prevalence of depression in this study was 28.5%. Mild depression was present in majority of the respondents (80.7%) who had depression. Poor socio-economic status was significantly related to depression. Since the Family Physician is concerned with the patient as a whole, increased efforts at screening for Depression in diabetics should be done. Keywords: Prevalence, Pattern, Depression, Diabetes Mellitus
Aim/Background: The Covid-19 pandemic continues to pose a major health challenge globally. Nigeria have been battling with the pandemic since recording its first case on 28th February, 2020. Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital (ISTH) is one of the centres for the diagnosis and treatment of Covid-19 in Nigeria. Materials and Methods: To ensure safety of health care workers as well as non Covid-19 patients presenting to the hospital, measures were put in place by the hospital management and the department of family medicine. Results:Patients were triaged prior to entering the hospital and the clinics such that patients with risk ofCovid-19 were seen separately. Home visits,telemedicine, social distancing, appropriate safety attires including compulsory face masks for all were instituted. Conclusion: With these measures, the hospital did not have to shut down its clinics, neither did it record any significant increase in Covid-19 cases compared to other centres. Thus non Covid-19 patients could get the highest standard of care without increasing their chances of contracting Covid-19 from the hospital nor the health workers being put at increased risk. Recommendations: Clinics across the country and other climes should institute adequate safety measures to protect staff and patients while offering standard care to patients irrespective of ailment. Key Words: Covid-19; Nigeria; Pandemic; Family Medicine; ISTH
Background: Hemodialysis is the prescribed treatment for uremia and is life-saving. Most centers, including the University of Benin Teaching Hospital require that patienthas minimum of hemoglobin 6.7g/dl (PCV 20%) before hemodialysis. Patient had been refused dialysis at 2 different centers.Aim: We present this Jehovah’s Witnesses patient that was bleeding postprostatectomy, with PCV 16% (Hb 5.3 mg/dl), in uraemic encephalopathy and hypotensive. Patient and all his relatives refused blood transfusion on account of being of the Jehovah’s Witnesses faith. Patient presented at Yeshua Medical center, with Urea 246mg/dl, Creatinine 13.1 mg/dl and blood pressure 80/50mmHg.Materials and Method: Relatives of patient were cautioned on the need for blood transfusion. They provided signed waivers in case of any outcome considering the very poor prognosis. Patient was dialyzed with Nikkisso DBB 05/06 without systemic heparinisation.Results: The patient improved significantly after first session of dialysis and had complete recovery after subsequent 2 sessions.Conclusion: Dialyzing anemic bleeding patients appearstobe feasible in those who refuse blood transfusion on account of religious inclination, so long as adequate safety procedures are followed. Key Words: Anemia, Bleeding, Dialysis, Blood Transfusion, Jehovah’s Witness
Aim: Assessment of the level of exposure to risk factors for work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) constitutes appropriate basis for planning and implementing interventional ergonomics programs in the workplace. Hence, this study was designed to determine the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders among manual material handlers in selected markets in Lagos state, Nigeria and to assess their level of exposure to work-related musculoskeletal risk factors. Materials and Methods: One hundred manual material handlers, all males, whose age range ranged between 17 and 54years,purposively selected from four major markets in Lagos, Nigeria, completed the Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (NMQ) and the Quick Exposure Check (QEC) form for investigating musculoskeletal complaints and assessing physical exposure to risks respectively. Descriptive statistics of frequencies and percentages summarized the data. Results: Majority (94%) of the respondents suffered one form of musculoskeletal disorder symptoms or another in the last 12 months with highest prevalence reported in the low back (70%) and the shoulder (53%), whereas 100% risk of exposure to workrelated musculoskeletal disorders was established in all of the workers. Awkward working postures, poor manual material handling, and long hours of standing were the major ergonomic risk factors reported among the respondents. Conclusions: This study established a high prevalence rate of work-related musculoskeletal disorders among manual material handlers in Lagos, Nigeria. The level of exposure to the risk factors of work-related musculoskeletal disorders was very high, thereby requiring urgent and pertinent ergonomic solutions. Keywords: Work-related musculoskeletal disorders, ergonomic risk exposure, manual material handlers.
Aim/Background: Sexual assault is a major problem globally. It affects the victim physically, mentally, emotionally and psychologically. Most victims are women and seldom report the crime to relevant authorities. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and pattern of sexual assault among undergraduates attending Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital, Irrua, Edo State. Materials and Methods: The study was a hospital based descriptive, crosssectional study. Three hundred and sixty female undergraduates attending the hospital were consecutively selected and a semi structured questionnaire administered. The data was analysed using epi-info statistical software. Results: Of the 360 female undergraduates studied, 7 (1.94%) reported being sexually assaulted. Victims were all single, were assaulted on/before the age of 18years, majority knew their assailants but none reported to the police. Conclusion: The study found a prevalence of sexual assault of 1.94% among undergraduates attending Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital with majority of victims being assaulted by family and friends and none reporting to the police. Key Words: sexual assault, undergraduate, victim, assailant
Cataracts are opacities in the human crystalline lens. Cataracts rank as the number one cause of reversible blindness worldwide. Definitive management of cataracts is by cataract surgery; a predominantly outpatient procedure carried out by ophthalmologists. Cataract surgery outcomes are generally very good. Common complications of cataract surgery include infection, vitreous loss, dropped nucleus, posterior capsular rupture and retinal detachment. Types of cataracts include Cataracta Nigra (black cataract) and Brunescent Cataract (Brown Cataract). There are recent improvements in cataract surgery such as Phacoemulsification and Micro incision cataract surgery. Nowadays, the operating physician does not necessarily have to insert a stitch at the site of entry when using these newer techniques. This is a case report of an adult male patient with a rare form of cataract at Africa Eye Laser Center, Benin City, Nigeria. Patient recovery was remarkable post operation up with Visual Acuity to 6/18. Sutureless small incision cataract surgery is a viable technique for operating black cataracts. Key Words: Cataracta Nigra, Brunescent Cataracts, Phacoemulsification, Visual Acuity
Aim/Background: Lassa fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic fever. It is a major cause of morbidity and mortality. It is endemic in Edo State, Nigeria. Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital is a center of excellence for Lassa fever research and control. The aim of this study was to assess the knowledge of health workers on Lassa fever in Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital.Materials and Methods: A total of 225 health workers consisting of Doctors (75), Nurses (115), Pharmacists (10), Laboratory scientists (20) and CHEWS (5) were recruited in the study. The respondents were selected at random from various wards and clinics. They completed the 10 items questionnaire with each item given a score of 2 to make a total of 20.Results: From the results, 70.2% of the study population had good knowledge while 27.06 had fair knowledge and only 2.2% had poor knowledge.Conclusion: The following variables were found to have statistical significance with knowledge; Age group, Designation, Years of experience in Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital, and years of experience in Lassa unit.Sex, years of experience generally as a health worker, attendance of workshops and previous work in Lassa unit did not have any statistical significance in relation with the level of knowledge. Key Words: Lassa fever, health workers, knowledge
The use of clinical laboratory test results in diagnostic decision making is an integralpart of clinical medicine. A general belief is that laboratory error occurs mostly in the analytical phase, however contrary to this errors occurring in preanalytical phase are high and a major contributor to this is incomplete filling of the laboratory requisition forms. Incomplete information on the laboratory forms sometimes delays the communication with clinician which is important in life threatening medical conditions. Insufficient, incorrect or illegible information on the requisition forms can directly affect processing and analysis of the specimens. It may lead to incorrect diagnostic and therapeutic decisions, misinterpretation of result, and impair on meaningful comments from the clinical laboratory. Appropriately, filled laboratory forms allow for timely communication of critical results to physicians providing early intervention and improved patient care. This mini review tends to enlighten the health care professionals on the need to correctly fill the laboratory requisition form to enhance quality patient care. Keywords: Requisition form, Pre-analytical errors, Quality care, Clinical information, Provisional diagnosis
Aim/Background: This study estimated the health numeracy level and identified its determinants among medical doctors in a tertiary hospital in South-south Nigeria.Materials/Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Nigeria using 84 randomly selected medical doctors. Health numeracy level was measured using the validated 20-item Numeracy Understanding in Medicine Instrument (NUMi) scale.The logistics regression analysis was used to identify independent significant association between health numeracy level and predictors adjusting for other covariates. Analysis was done using the IBM SPSS version 21.0 software and statistical significance was set at p<0.005Results: About 72% of the respondents were males, with median (IQR) age of 31 (29 to 35) years. Only 31% of the respondents were aware of the term ‘health numeracy’ and their main source of information was the mass media. Overall, 42.9% of the respondents had high numeracy score, however, only 33% could communicate relative risk reduction, 55% understood small risk using probability,and 52% could interpretthe p-value. Sex,marital status and income level, had statistically significant association with numeracy level at the multivariate level. The odds of high numeracy level were 5.7 (95% CI: 1.7 – 18.7) times higher in men than women.Conclusion: Health numeracy level is not optimal among medical doctors in tertiary hospital in Nigeria. These low levels of numeracy were observed with respect to probability, statistics and communications of risk. Gender, marital status, and income level seem to have a modifying effect on health numeracy. Health Numeracy And Its Determinants Among Medical Doctors In A Tertiary Hospital In South-South Nigeria Keywords: Health Numeracy, Medical doctors, Tertiary hospital, Nigeria
Aim: To determine common tooth shades among randomly selected subjects in our hospital.Background: Dento-facial aesthetics is a subject of concern to everyone. Disharmony in colour between natural and prosthetic teeth is a common cause of dissatisfaction with prosthetic rehabilitation. The pattern of tooth shade presentation in our centre is yet to be reported.Materials and Methods: This comparative observational study was conducted in a tertiary hospital among 300 randomly selected adult subjects who had full complement of upper anterior teeth. Vita Classic shade guide was employed for the study. To prevent bias, the identification codes on the shade tabs were blinded. An upper left central incisor was employed as the index tooth. Standard principles for tooth shades selection were followed. The shade tab that matched or close to the index tooth was selected for every individual. Age and gender of the subjects were recorded.Chi Sq statistical test was performed to determine the relationship between gender and tooth shades. The level of significance was set at p ≤ 0.05.Results: Most of the subjects were females, 162 (54.0%) and the age range was18-75yrs. The commonest tooth shade among the subjects was Vita Classic A2 (15.7%) followed by A1 (12.7%) and A3 (10.3%). No case of D1 (0%) was seen and only 2 cases (0.7%) of C4 were encountered. Overall, shade A was the most frequently encountered Hue, 142 (47.3%) followed by shade B, 71 (23.7%). Shade C was the least encountered Hue, 36 (12.0%). There was no statistically significant relationship between gender and shade(χ²=12.799,P=0.618).Conclusion: The commonest tooth shade among the subjects was Vita Classic A2 and the least was D1. Shade A was the most frequently encountered Hue. Keyword: aesthetics, shade guide, tooth shade
Identification of various medical conditions in post mortem and estimation of time of death is often difficult. Results from analysis of post mortem blood and urine samples are not as appropriate as in living subjects, due to bacterial contamination and post mortem cell degradation. Vitreous fluid shows relatively stable conditions after death, making it a better matrix for post mortem biochemical analysis than blood sample and serum. The purpose of this study is to compare the concentration of anions (bicarbonate and chloride) in the vitreous fluid at various post mortem interval(PMI) in porcine and caprine eyes. 20 pairs of caprine and porcine eyes were obtained from an abattoir in Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria. The eyeballs were enucleated and collected within an hour after death so as to correctly calculate the baseline level of Bicarbonate and chloride ion concentration as at the time of death and kept in a sterile container at room temperature (250C). The vitreous humour was carefully extracted from the enucleated porcine and caprine eyes at various post mortem intervals (0, 24, 48 and 72hrs). Anions concentrations were determined using the Schales and Schales technique (1941) for chloride determination and Van Slkye and Neil technique (1924) for bicarbonate determination.Data obtained from the experiment was analysed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 22.The result showed a negative correlation and an insignificant difference(P>0.05) in the concentration of anions in caprine and porcine eyes. Key words: vitreous humour, post mortem interval, porcine, caprine.
Background: The transition from exclusive breastfeeding to semi solid or solid foods is referred to as complementary feeding. Complementary feeding is introduced when breast milk is no longer enough to meet the nutritional needs of the infant. It is known that infants are not physiologically ready to receive complementary feeds less than six months due to immaturity of the gastrointestinal and neuro-developmental systems and the kidneys. Objectives: This study aims to assess the knowledge, practice and factors influencing appropriate timing of complementary feeding. Result: A descriptive cross sectional study was carried out among 240 caregivers of children aged 6-24months selected by a multi stage sampling technique. Data was obtained with pretested interviewer administered questionnaire. Findings from the study showed that most 207(86.25%) of the mothers were less than 34years, while almost a third 76(31.67%) of the respondents have no formal education. More than half 141(58.75%) are married. All the respondents have heard of complementary feeding, whereas only 100(41.67%)% introduced complementary feeding between 6-9months there was significant association with religion (P=0.000), occupation (P=0.000), education (P=0.000), marital status (P=0.000), and place of birth (P=0.000) and the knowledge of appropriate timing of introduction of complementary feeding. Conclusion: In conclusion all the caregivers have heard of complementary feeding but just few introduce complementary feeding at the appropriate timing, hence drastic measure needs to be implored in correcting some misconceptions and myth caused by socio-cultural beliefs. Key words: Timing, complementary feeding, Infant health, Malnutrition
Background: The Human Immuno Virus /Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome(HIV/AIDS) remains one of the world’s major public health and social economic problem. In the absence of a cure, prevention through sexual abstinence remains the most effective primary strategy to eliminate the pandemic.Aim: To identify factors associated with sexual abstinence as the most effective primary preventive measure against HIV/AIDS among students in a tertiary institution in Edo State.Materials and Methods:This study employed a descriptive survey design to investigate factors associated with sexual abstinence among 185 students in a tertiary institution in Edo State, Nigeria. Respondents’ knowledge, attitude and factors associated with sexual abstinence as a preventive measure of HIV/AIDS were assessed by means of a selfadministered questionnaire designed by the researchers. Instrument validity and reliability was based on stated objectives and by pilot testing among 20 students in another faculty but with similar characteristics. A reliability score of over 0.811on all domains with the Pearson Correlation statistics indicates the instrument was reliable. Descriptive and inferential analysis were employed to analyze the data at a p-value of 0.05df.Results:majority 180 (97.3%) of the respondents have good knowledge of HIV/AIDS’ preventive measures while only 5(2.7%) reported that it cannot be prevented. Eighty (45.9%) respondents strongly agreed with the use of abstinence as a preventive measure against HIV/AIDS. The overall mean attitudinal score of 2.89 indicates that the respondents have positive attitude towards sexual abstinence as a preventive measure of HIV/AIDS. Religious and traditional belief practices, positive attitude of one’s sexual health were identified as some factors responsible for sexual abstinence by 167(90.3%) and 130(70.3%)respondents, while poverty and peer influence were implicated as been responsible for non-abstinence by 116(62.7%) and 146(78.9%) of them. Hypothesis test at p<0.05 revealed a statistical insignificant and weak negative relationship between knowledge and attitude.Conclusion: The study concludes with a recommendation for strong family base and support for the youths with concerted efforts at building family values and teaching sex education in early childhood. Furthermore, heads of institutions should encourage and provide recreational and sports facilities and programmes to serve as a diversional therapy from sex. Keywords: Sexual Abstinence, HIV/AIDS preventive measures, University students.
Living in the street is a phenomenon alien to native communities in Africa and perhaps other traditional cultures in developing economies. The knit family unit in such communities protected children from living in the street. That the phenomenon has crept into such communities underscores the erosion of longstanding cultural values. The concept of street children is relatively new, with paucity of data on the burden and consequences on its victims in various locale. This endeavour sought to bridge these knowledge gaps. We sampled all adolescents (225) agreeable to the study objectives in all motor parks and markets in the metropolis of Benin. Using researcher administered proforma, subjects’ biodata, social characteristics, consequences of living in the street and risk factors for the phenomenon were gathered over an 8 month period. The prevalence of street children was 9 per 10,000 adolescent population. More females than males were involved and only two subjects were children of the street as distinct from others who were children on the street. Only 91or 40.4% of the subjects were indigenes of Edo State. Their mean age was 13.14 years (range: 10-17 years). One hundred and fifty one of the 225 adolescents still had one or both parents alive. Their fathers were mainly unskilled labourers (121/151 or 69.5%) or junior civil servants/privately employed workers (40/151 or 23.0%). Vocations of 224 of the children were hawking of wares, (107 or 47.8%); trading, 55 or 24.6% and begging, 37 or 16.5%. School dropout rate among the subjects was more among middle (30.0%) and late adolescents (38.0%). As many as 100/224 or 44.6% had access to only one or two meals/day while about 50.0% alluded to consuming protein rich diets only once or less per day. Approximately a third each of the subjects (only 218 responded to this theme) had lived as street children respectively for one, two and three years at the point of recruitment. Reasons for engaging in street activities as volunteered by 220 respondents were: the need to supplement family income, 83 or 37.7%; raise monies for personal needs, 50 or 23.0% while 36 or 16.4% needed the proceeds for self feeding. Of the 173/225 or 76.9% that responded to the consequences of the phenomenon, 73 or 42.2% each implicated infrequent school attendance and undue exposure to accidents/illnesses. Others were poor school performance, 43 or 24.9% and being impediment to achieving maximum potentials in life, 10 or 5.8%. The main aspiration of 175 of 214 (81.8%) respondents was getting back to school. “Street children” is real in Benin City. We may have succeeded in exposing only the tip of an iceberg. With deteriorating socio economy in the country prevalence could increase. Children in the street are a threat to themselves and the community. General and specific measures should be taken by the State and other stakeholders to checkmate the menace. Keywords: Street Children, Adolescents, Benin City, Prevalence, Consequences
Obesity has also been reported to cause bad obstetric outcomesand is associated with disturbances in leptin and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) levels.Difficulty in parturition or even emergency operative delivery can occur from disturbances in uterine contractility. There are conflicting reports on the effect of leptin on uterine contractility and very few studies on the GABA and uterine contractility.This study was therefore aimed at investigating the responsiveness of the pregnant and non-pregnant rat uterus to cumulative doses of recombinant leptin and GABA. Pregnant rats at gestational day (GD) 20 and non-pregnant rats in the oestrus phase were utilized.The uterus was isolatedand the force and frequency of uterine contractions for GABA (10-4-7mg/ml) and leptin (10-2- 1μg/ml) were measured cumulatively.Non-pregnant and pregnant rats showed no statistically significant difference (P>0.05) in amplitude of contractions in the presence of leptin, however the frequency of contractions (P 0.05) in the amplitude of uterine contractions in the presence of GABA but again the frequency ofcontractions were significantly reduced (P<0.05) in the non-pregnant uterus. This study has shown that leptin had an inhibitory effect on the uterine contraction frequency in both pregnant and non-pregnant states while GABA inhibited uterine contraction frequency only in the non-pregnant uterus. It can therefore be inferred that the bad obstetric outcomes associated with obesity especially with regards to disorders in uterine contractility during parturition can ascribable to the characteristic hyperleptinaemic state which causes disturbances on GABA levels. Keywords: GABA, Leptin, Uterine contractility, Infertility, Obesity
Objective: Identification of factors influencing oral health behaviour among dental students in Nigerian Universities. Methods: The study was an analytical cross sectional survey involving the use of a multi-stage sampling technique to select 812 undergraduate dental students from 6 institutions: University of Benin, University of Ibadan, University of Lagos, Obafemi Awolowo University, University of Port Harcourt and Bayero University, Kano. Information was collected using a well-structured, self-administered questionnaire. The outcome variable was oral health behaviour and explanatory variables include socio-demographic factors (sex, age, study location, study level, father’s occupation, mother’s occupation, highest educational level of father and highest educational level of mother), as well as oral health-related knowledge and attitudes. Chi-square test was used to investigate associations between categorical variables while variables significant in the bivariate analysis were entered into binary logistic regression model to further predict the strength of the association at 5% level of significance. Results: The mean age of the respondents was 22.0±3.0 years. About 15% of the students were in year-1. The mean knowledge, attitude and practice scores were 15.0±3.6, 10±1.8 and 8.7±1.9 respectively. The student’s oral health behaviour was influenced by their age, study level and knowledge of oral health. Over 75% of the respondents that were 20 years and above had good oral health behaviour whereas below 70% of those that were under 20 years had good oral health behaviour (p=0.04). Over 91% of the respondents that were in year-6 had good oral health behaviour whereas below 78% each of those that were in years 1 to 5 had good oral health behaviour (p<0.0001). About 80% of the respondents that had good knowledge of oral health had good oral health practices, 65% of those that had fair knowledge of oral health had good oral health practices and 76% of those that had poor knowledge of oral health had good oral health practices (p<0.0001). Those in 200 level were 7 times less likely to practice good oral health compared to the 600 level students (OR = 0.14, 95% CI = 0.06 – 0.34). Those in 400 level were 5.3 times less likely to practice good oral health compared to the 600 level students (OR = 0.19, 95% CI = 0.08 – 0.41). Conclusion: The knowledge of oral health and the attitudes toward oral health among the Nigerian undergraduate dental students were good, but their oral health behaviour was only just fair. Oral health behaviour was significantly influenced by age, study level and knowledge of oral health. The most important determinant of oral health behaviour was their study level. As part of their curriculum therefore, dental students should start learning about preventive aspects of oral health as early as their first year in the University. Keywords: Oral health behaviour, Determinants, Undergraduate dental students, Nigeria
Background: Fibrin sealant (also often referred to as fibrin glue) is probably one of the most complex human plasma derivatives both in terms of composition and clinical applications. Fibrin materials serve as temporal scaffolds for cells involved in wound healing and are often used as matrix for cell or drug delivery, especially in research. In clinical tests, as coagulation trigger agent, a phosholipid, i.e., cephalin with calcium chloride is typically used for the intrinsic pathway, and thromboplastin with calcium choride is used for the extrinsic pathway. The coagulation also occurs by mixing citrated plasma with only calcium chloride, though the clotting time is much longer. Objective: The objective of this study was to use a statistical method to determine calcium concentration leading to the shortest mean time to obtain an exclusively exogenous calcium fibrin sealant based on homologous plasma. Material and methods: For clotting time measures, coagulometer START4 was used. All clotting time results were analyzed by the Student test. Our experimental method excluded any other chemical or exogenous enzyme addition. Results: Clotting times obtained in minutes were 22±3.41, 13±1.40, 19±5.85, 35±26.21 and >120 respectively for 20 mM, 40mM, 60 mM, 80 mM and 100 mM calcium chloride final concentrations in plasma solutions. Conclusion: Calcium chloride concentration which gave the best clotting time, otherwise the shortest clotting time, following our proposed method was 40 mM. This simple practice would allow to completely exclude chemicals or enzymes addition except indispensable chloride calcium to obtain homologous plasma fibrin sealants. Keywords: Plasma; Fibrin sealant; clotting time; Calcium
Background: Good nutrition plays an important role in the prevention of diseases in children. Childhood diarrhoea is commonly associated with under nutrition such that the frequency and severity of diarrhoea are increased with greater severity of under nutrition. Objectives: The study was carried out to assess the nutritional status of children with diarrhoea, and to determine the impact of malnutrition on diarrhoeal characteristics. Methods: The study was a cross-sectional comparative study which involved under-five children with diarrhoea and controls. Socio-demographic details, diarrhoeal characteristics and nutritional parameters, including weight-for-age, height-for-age and weight-for-height, were assessed in the children. Results: Twenty-five (14.7%) of the diarrhoea patients were underweight, 31 (18.2%) stunted, 29 (17.1%) wasted and6 (3.5%) overweight. Wasting and underweight were significantly more prevalent among the children with diarrhoea, compared with the controls (p <0.001 and p = 0.007, respectively). A significantly higher proportion of children who had signs of dehydration were underweight (p <0.001) and wasted (p <0.001). Wasting was also more prevalent among children with higher stool frequency (p = 0.007). Conclusion: Wasting serves as a risk factor for childhood diarrhoea, and also predisposes children to severe episodes of diarrhoea, whereas overweight status offers no protection against diarrhoea. Keywords: Malnutrition, Diarrhoea, Children, Nigeria
Inflammation and endothelial dysfunction have been known to be involved in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular diseases. As such, examining the levels of inflammation and endothelial dysfunction is very critical to the prevention of cardiovascular diseases among chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients. This study aimed to investigate the progression of inflammation and endothelial dysfunction among CKD patients in Sokoto. A total of 67 CKD patients were divided into 5 groups based on the stages of their kidney disease calculated using the MDRD 4-variable equation for estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR). The presence of inflammation was determined by C-Reactive Protein (CRP) and Tumor Necrosis Factor alpha, while endothelial dysfunction was determined by the levels of Asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) using ELISA kits. The mean eGFR of the patients was 49.97 ± 4.69 ml/min/1.73m2. There was significant increase (p<0.05) in CRP, TNF-α and ADMA of the CKD patients across the stages as compared to the non-CKD subjects. It was observed that as the CRP, TNF-α and ADMA increase, the eGFR significantly (p<0.05) decreases. Both CRP and TNF-α indicated a significantly positive correlation (p<0.05) with ADMA. The results indicated progressive increase in inflammation and endothelial dysfunction as CKD deteriorates. In addition, increased levels of inflammation could directly affect endothelial dysfunction, thereby aggravating cardiovascular morbidity and mortality among CKD patients in Sokoto. Otitolaiye, C. A. | Department of Biochemistry, Sokoto State University, Sokoto, Nigeria
