AJOL - African Journals Online
Not a member yet
221688 research outputs found
Sort by
Investigation of the knowledge of South African high school rugby coaches on concussion and the return-to-play protocol
No full textBackground: Coaches are pivotal in the management of concussed players. Assessing the knowledge of high school rugby coaches with regard to concussion management will enable relevant future education on this topic to be covered.
Objectives: To investigate the knowledge of South African high school rugby coaches on concussion symptom recognition, knowledge and stepwise return-to-play (RTP) protocols.
Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study involving 143 first team, high school rugby coaches was completed via an electronic questionnaire. Independent variables included coach demographics, qualifications, experience, BokSmart accreditation, and school size. Dependent variables included knowledge scores on concussion symptoms, general concussion knowledge, stepwise RTP and Maddocks questions. Relationships between total scores for different demographic groupings were established using non-parametric techniques.
Results: The coaches had high general, symptom and overall concussion knowledge scores (77% - 80%) in contrast with low RTP scores (62%) and very low Maddocks questions knowledge scores (26%). The 35-44-year age group received top scores for symptom recognition (p=0.034) and total concussion knowledge (p=0.041). Larger category school coaches (p=0.008) and BokSmart accredited coaches (p=0.041) outperformed all other coaches in general concussion knowledge and total knowledge, respectively. However, respondents were not familiar with emotional symptoms or the importance of cognitive rest after a concussion. Educational programmes were the most popular knowledge source for coaches.
Conclusion: In general, coaches presented with good general concussion knowledge but lesser expertise on emotional symptoms, cognitive rest and RTP management. Modifiable predictors of knowledge included the expansion of BokSmart accreditation, focussing information sessions on smaller rugby size schools and the education of coaches younger than 35 years or older than 45 years of age
The unexpected evolution of myocardial injury while infected with the coronavirus: A COVID-19 case report
No full textBackground: A novel virus breakout in December 2019, with diverse clinical manifestations, initially identified as infecting the respiratory system, has spread rapidly around the world, with adverse effects which have caused acute myocardial injury and chronic damage to the cardiovascular system in some individuals.
Aim: To present a clinical case with the manifestation of COVID-19 suspected to be either a mild case of either myocarditis or pericarditis. This case highlights a relatively atypical presentation of COVID-19 and the value of a coordinated approach to the unexpected sequences of patient recovery patterns that may require further specialist referral and intervention.
Findings: A ribonucleic acid (RNA) viral infection was confirmed by a polymerase chain reaction with reverse transcription (RT-PCR) and the patient was diagnosed with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The presenting symptoms failed to resolve and the patient was admitted to the accident and emergency (A&E) department. Upon the second visit to the A&E department at 27 days postinfection, an electrocardiograph (ECG) was conducted revealing T wave inversion.
Implications: A coordinated approach is needed to combat the infection, develop cardiac-protective strategies and direct supportive measures
Heat shock protein response during fixed intensity and self-paced exercise in the heat in young, healthy women on oral contraceptives compared with young healthy men
No full textBackground: Heat shock proteins respond to a variety of physiological and environmental stresses, including heat stress, ischemia and endotoxic shock. Hormonal changes during the female menstrual cycle can have a thermogenic effect on body temperature. The monophasic oral contraceptive (OC) pill provides low doses of progesterone and oestrogen over the course of the normal menstrual phase. There is little evidence regarding the combined effects of OC on exercise performance and heat stress with respect to heat shock protein response.
Objectives: This study aimed to determine the response of heat shock proteins (Hsp72) during fixed-intensity and self-paced exercise in the heat in young, healthy women on oral contraceptives compared with young healthy men.
Methods: Sixteen physically active men and women performed 30 min fixed-intensity cycling at 50% of maximum workload, followed by 30 min of a self-paced time trial (TT) interspersed by 30 s maximal sprint at 9, 19 and 29 min respectively. Trials were undertaken in cool (20°C; 48±3% relative humidity (RH)) and warm (32°C; 66±2% RH) ambient conditions. Core (Tc) and skin temperature, heart rate (HR) and subjective responses were measured before, during and post exercise.
Results: The distance, mean and peak power output, mean and peak speed during the self-paced time trial showed no difference between the ambient temperatures for men and women. Hsp72 in females was higher than males at all sample points at both 20°C and 32°C, except for pre-exercise at 20°C (p< 0.04). Women also attained a higher Tc than men at the end of the TT in the heat (38.5°C v 37.9°C for women and men, respectively; p<0.03), higher mean HR and perceived exertion.
Conclusion: This study indicates that females who use oral contraceptives (OC) had higher levels of Hsp72 than males when tested under the same environmental conditions
Plasmid DNA mediated vancomycin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (VRSA) from cases of urinary tract infection
No full textVancomycin resistance commonly occurs with Staphylococcus aureus, a pathogen that exhibits intrinsic virulence. Sixty isolates of Staphylococcus aureus tested positive as vancomycin possessive isolates on Brain Heart Infusion Agar medium fortified with 6 μg/mL vancomycin from 100 clinical samples of urine from patients with cases of UTIs via agar diffusion method. Standard 30 μg vancomycin disc served as control. Increase in zones of growth inhibition in relation to vancomycin concentrations was noticed in some of the isolates while it was reversed in others, despite the increase in concentration. Typed strain was susceptible to six concentrations of vancomycin exposed and to the control. Thirty one of the sixty isolates were resistant to vancomycin control. Resistant isolates from standard vancomycin discs were then subjected to molecular investigation. Of the 31 isolates exposed to gel electrophoresis, 14 (47%)elicited plasmids of varied molecular weights ranging from 0.79-23.13 kb. The magnitudes of vancomycinresistant isolates from the clinical samples studied, coupled with some incoherent zones of inhibition and the plasmid DNA obtained from the resistant isolates, suggest the need for infection control practitioners and epidemiologist to devise strategies to curtail the spread of this pathogen both in hospital and community settings. 
Enhancing farmers’ knowledge on climate-smart agriculture using learning videos in Irepodun LGA, Kwara State
Get PDFThis paper assessed the climate smart agricultural practices using learning videos in Irepodun LGA, Kwara State, Nigeria using qualitative and quantitative methods in data collection. One hundred and forty-eighty farmers were randomly selected using interview schedule. Also, focus group discussions were conducted with 137 participants. Pairwise comparison was used to evaluate the difference between the proportion of household heads who used the videos to learn and those who did not use the videos. The study revealed that farmers have similar perception of climate change and related impacts in video-villages and in non-video-villages. However, the study revealed farmers’ observation of climate change and related impacts are influenced by gender, with men perceiving more climate change and related impacts than women. In non-video villages, few respondents adopted crop rotation, intercropping, crop diversification, and improved short-cycle seed varieties as climate change adaptation strategies. Videos contribute more to the adoption of crop rotation, intercropping and fertilizer application for men than for women. Videos on accounting (managing money) enable more women than men to enhance their cost-benefit evaluation practices for income improvement. During the interviews, women farmers in video-villages were eager to demonstrate their knowledge about cost-benefit evaluation. Furthermore, the yield of sorghum, cassava and maize is higher in video- villages than in non-video-villages. Thus, using videos as an extension tool is suitable for knowledge development and leads to the high adoption of climate-smart agricultural practices for food security. 
Ureteric Injuries Following Obstetrics and Gynaecologic Surgeries: A Single-Center Experience.
No full textBackground: Ureteric injuries are not uncommon in obstetric and gynaecologic surgeries. Some specific procedures predispose to these injuries. Recognition is often delayed. This study aims to present a single-center experience on the presentation, risk factors, and management of ureteric injuries.
Methodology: We retrospectively reviewed case files of patients primarily presenting or referred to our urology division with ureteric injuries following obstetrics or gynaecologic surgeries from June, 2005 to May, 2015. Data extracted included the time of presentation or recognition, the specific offending surgery, the laterality and site involved, the repair performed, and outcome.
Results: Twenty-three patients had injuries (with a total of 25 ureters involved owing to 2 bilateral injuries). Caesarian-section is the commonest offending surgery in 13 (56.5%). The reasons for early recognition were sudden anuria in two and urinary leakage in the operating field in four patients constituting 26.0%, while 17 (74.0%) were recognized in the post-operative period. Urinary fistulae were the commonest presentation in 13 (76.5%) patients recognized postoperatively. Transection and ligation are the commonest mechanisms of injury. The distal third was the site involved in all patients, while ureteroneocystostomy alone was the most predominant repair in 18 (72.0%). Ureteroneocystostomy with Psoas hitch and Boari flap reconstruction was offered in six (24.0%) suggesting greater than 5cm ureteral loss.
Conclusions: Ureteric injuries often occur following obstetrics and gynaecologic surgeries. Caesarian-section is the commonest predisposing surgery in our center. Prompt recognition and repair is recommended
Computational intelligence paradigms for automata based secured energy efficient routing in wireless sensor network - A technical survey
Get PDFWireless Sensor Network (WSN) has been deployed in several areas of interest for controlling the region, automation of mundane tasks due to features such as smart sensor nodes, low cost, and small-scale factors. Earlier, the sensory units were costly and deficient in the computational and communicational capabilities which were overcome by sensing, processing, storing, and forwarding the data powered by a battery. There predominates diverse applications which affects the low-cost solutions of WSNs in numerous specialties such as observing patients in health care, target exposure, and tracking purposes, examining the atmosphere and climate, home applications, contributing protection for vehicular networks Owing to the diversity of the applications of Wireless Sensor Network, it needs to impose varying design, implementation, and performance requirements on the Wireless Sensor Network to have deep knowledge about the characteristics of WSNs. The pervasiveness of designing and optimizing WSN appeared to be a surplus to several application fields which influenced countless researchers to pay attention to several issues such as routing, mobility of nodes, coverage, and security. In recent years, designing of WSN becomes the leading domain for many researchers. A WSN is bounded with a collection of devices that are associated in the network to communicate the information collected from the field through the wireless links that have been established in the network. The data thus collected is transmitted through multiple nodes and also, the data is communicated to other networks through the gateway. During the design and deployment of WSNs, more attention is required at various levels like routing, coverage, and security. A complete system could be designed so that it could resolve the problems such as energy exhaustion, network lifetime, throughput, end-to-end time, routing, and intrusion detection could also monitor and keep control of the network environment. Therefore, this proposed technical research survey work has been carried out by devising an automaton system that can learn, monitor and control the dynamic behaviour of the network environment as well as can obtain an optimal route using Computational Intelligence Techniques. Besides, it detects the malicious activities that occur in the network using Hybrid Intrusion Detection System (IDS) model to enhance the throughput, lifetime of the network, utilization of the energy, end-to-end delay, accuracy, detection rate, computational time and recall rate
Influences of visitors’ motivation towards their revisit intention to selected Zoos in Lagos State
Get PDFNo Abstrac
Contribution of Malawi’s decentralized agricultural extension service system to farmers’ maize productivity
Get PDFAgricultural extension plays a critical role in the agricultural sector’s development and sustainability of farmers’ productivity and well-being. Malawi has consistently been reforming its agricultural extension services to increase accessibility by farmers. However, smallholder farmers’ productivity remains low. Therefore, the study on which the paper is based, aimed at examining the contribution of Malawi’s decentralized agricultural extension system (DAESS) to households’ maize productivity. Specifically, the study aimed at determining how farmers’ access to agricultural extension services, factors associated with their maize productivity and lastly, farmers’ satisfaction with Malawi’s DAESS. The study adopted the cross-sectional research design whereby a structured questionnaire was used to collect quantitative data from 150 smallholder maize farmers in Mangochi district, Malawi. In addition, supplementary data were collected from 10 focus group discussions involving 6 – 8 participants and from nine (9) key informant interviews. IBM-SPPS was used to determine descriptive and inferential statistics. Regression analysis was run to determine how access to extension services is associated with maize productivity. Farmers’ satisfaction with DAESS was measured using a 5-point Likert scale. Study findings show that farmers’ access to extension services was positively and significantly (p<0.001) associated with maize productivity and that 73.3% of smallholder farmers expressed a high level of satisfaction with the services provided. It is concluded that access and number of visits to extension services raise farmers’ maize productivity. It is also concluded that most smallholder farmers in Mangochi district were satisfied with the extension services they received. Therefore, it is recommended that the government of Malawi should continue with the implementation and improvement of the DAESS and use of the lead farmer approach to expand access to quality agricultural extension services by smallholder farmers
Impact of Solid Waste on Soil Bacterial and the Municipal Waste Management in Some Communities of Lagos Island
Get PDFThe effects of solid waste on soil and soil sentinels cannot be over emphasized. On the other hand, managing municipal waste has a serious challenge. This study focused on the impact of solid waste on soil bacteria and the municipal waste management in some communities of Lagos Island which are Dolphin and Adeola Odeku Village. This study aimed at examining the present municipal waste management practices in Lagos Island and how they can be improved upon. Random sampling was used to administer 100 questionnaires to households while the different heavy metal concentrations in the soil samples were determined using Buck 200 Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS). The wastes were mainly composed of food wastes, plastics/pet bottles and nylon. Although the majority of the respondents (65%) had waste bins/bags assigned to their houses, about 73.86% did not sort their wastes. The concentrations of the heavy metals (Co, Zn, Ni, and Mn) in the soil samples were higher in Dolphin and Adeola Odeku village compared to the control soil sample. The bacterial isolates identified from the soil samples are Corynebacterium spp., Enterobacter spp., Flavobacterium spp., Acinebacter spp., Escherichia coli, Proteus spp., Bacillus subtilis and Micricoccus leteus. SWOT analysis revealed the need to improve environmental awareness to minimize the threat of low sorting of wastes. Also, opportunities exist for recycling plastics/pet bottles and nylon while wastes from food materials could benefit agriculture through composing. This study suggests that more environmental awareness, policies, and better administration are needed to improve the status of waste management in urban communities of Lagos Island.