839 research outputs found
Sort by
Knowledge and Practice of Sneeze and Cough Etiquettes among Participants in A Randomized Study in Ekiti-State, South-Western Nigeria
Full text linkBackground: Indiscriminate sneezing and coughing with infectious runny nose pose threats to public health. In this
study, we investigate knowledge and practice of sneeze and cough etiquettes among residents in Ekiti-State, South-
Western Nigeria.
Objective: To sensitize the public on the roles of sneeze and cough etiquettes in the prevention the spread of
infectious respiratory diseases.
Methodology: A prospective, cross-sectional, randomized study of respondents in Ekiti State was conducted.
Results: In all, 395 participants were studied. Of this number, 228 (57.7%) sneeze or cough into air without a cover
on their nose or mouth, 82 (20.7%) into handkerchiefs, 20 (5.1%) into tissue, 22 (5.6%) into bare hand, 5 (1.3%)
into sleeve or crook of elbow and 38 (9.6%) use a combination of methods. The proportion of respondents that wash
hands or handkerchief soon after clean-up of the runny nose was only 38%. There was an inverse relationship
between education attainment and hospital care of runny nose.
Conclusion: This study shows that the majority (57.7%) of the respondents sneeze or cough into air without a cover
on the nose or mouth. Only 1.3% of the respondents sneezes or coughs into sleeve or crook of the elbow which is the
most acceptable form of hygiene etiquette. The proportion of respondents that wash hands or handkerchief soon
after a clean-up of runny nose was quite small. Education has no comparative advantage over illiteracy in the uptake
of treatment of runny nose. We, therefore, recommend that the public must be educated on the best sneeze, cough
and respiratory hygiene etiquettes irrespective of their educational attainment
PHARYNGO-OESOPHAGEAL FOREIGN BODIES: OUR EXPERIENCE AT TWO FEDERAL HEALTH INSTITUTIONS IN NIGERIA
Full text linkBackground/Aim: Foreign bodies (FBs) of the upper aero digestive tract often present as medical
emergencies and it is common in children especially under the age of five years. The aim of this
study was to present our experience with the management of Pharyngo-oesophageal FBs in two
federal health institutions in Nigeria over a 10-years period.
Methods: It was a retrospective study. Records of all the patients with pharygo-oesophageal foreign
bodies who were seen and treated in the Accident and Emergency unit and ENT clinic was retrieved
from the hospital medical record department. The information that was extracted include their
demographic data, time of ingestion to presentation, presenting symptoms, type of FB ingested,
treatment, length of hospital stay and outcome. X-ray soft tissue of the neck (anteroposterior and
lateral views) of the patients was also reviewed.
Results: A total of 57 patients have complete data for this study. There were 43 males and 14
females given a male to female ratio of 3:1. Their age range was 9 months to 86 years with a mean
of 32.8 ± 23.4SD. Majority (38.6%) of the patients are in the age range of 0-20 years. At
presentation, their major complaints were dysphagia (89.5%) and odynophagia (84.2%). More than
half of the patients (57.9%) presented within 24 hours of ingestion of foreign body. The most
common ingested foreign body was dentures, which were noted in 18(31.6%) patients. All patients
except one had rigid endoscopy. More than half (61.4%) of the FB impaction was seen at the upper
third of the oesophagus. Complications recorded are failed procedures in 3 (5.3%) patients, foreign
bodies were not seen in 2(3.5%) patients and one (1.8%) had subcutaneous emphysema.
Conclusion: Accidental foreign body ingestion of the oesophagus was still a major problem among
children. Commonest foreign object recorded in this study was denture. Large percentages of FBs
ingested were at home. Rigid oesophagoscopic removal is still the safest method of treatment.
Health education as to its prevention and early presentation to health facility will prevent morbidity
and mortalit
Correlation of Features of Allergic Rhinitis and Allergic Conjunctivitis with Treatment Modalities
Full text linkIntroduction: Allergic Rhinitis (AR) is a chronic, symptomatic allergic disorder of the nose that is usually caused by IgE-mediated inflammatory response following exposure to an allergen. The allergen could be in the form of dust, pollen, flower, animal dander, mold, cold, food allergens or insect. Clinically, AR occurs when there are recurrent nasal symptoms which are reversible either spontaneously or with medication in the preceding one year. Such symptoms include at least two of the following; excessive sneezing, running nose, nasal itching, nasal discharge, nasal congestion or obstruction.Previous studies have linked AR to be co-existed with another form of allergic disorders including AC, Atopic dermatitis and Allergic Asthma.This study is aimed at assessing the feature of AR patients with coexistent AC as well as evaluating the effectiveness of the treatments offered to them. Objectives: The study was aimed at finding the correlation between the nasal and eye features in a patient who has co-existing allergic rhinitis and allergic conjunctivitis.Methodology: This was a cross-sectional descriptive study conducted between August 2018 and November 2019 among 38 patients who presented to ENT and Ophthalmology departments of Federal Teaching Hospital Ido-Ekiti, Ekiti State, Southwestern Nigeria and was diagnosed with both allergic rhinitis and allergic conjunctivitis. Relevant data obtained were analyzed using SPSS version 20. P ≤ 0.05 was taken as significant.Results: The patients’ age range between 8 and 81 yearswith a median age of 33 years. The majority were less than 45 years (63.2%) with the male to female ratio of almost. Eye pain, itching, and redness account for 97.4% of all the eye features, while the presence of Cobblestone-like papillaeis the least and accounted for 5%. Nasal itching (92.1%) was the commonest nasal symptom. Sleep disturbance was found to be the most common among those with eye itching (29.7%).Conclusion: This research was conducted to correlate the features of allergicrhinitis with those of conjunctivitis and common management and preventive measures offered to the patients seen in our clinics. The majority of the patients were less than 45 years with almost equal sex ratio. Eye pain, itching, and redness account for the majority of all the eye features, while the presence of Cobblestone-like papillaeis the least eye feature. Nasal itching was the commonest nasal symptom and this was seen in the majority of the patients with eye symptoms. Keywords: Allergy; rhinitis; conjuctivitis.1. INTRODUCTIONAllergic Rhinitis (AR) is a chronic, symptomatic allergic disorder of the nose that is caused by IgE-mediated inflammatory response following exposure to an allergen. [1] The allergen couldbe in form of dust, pollen, flower, animal dander, mold, cold or insect. [2] Clinically, Allergic rhinitis occurs when there are recurrent nasal symptoms which are reversible either spontaneously or with medication in the preceding one year. [3] Such symptoms include at least two of the following; excessive sneezing, running nose, nasal itching, nasal discharge, nasal congestion or obstruction. [3].The aim of this study was to determine the correlation between clinical features of Allergic Rhinitis (AR) with Allergic conjunctivitis (AC). The availability of such data will be necessary, not only for epidemiological purposes but also for clinical diagnosis and treatment of the affected individuals.2. METHODOLOGYThis is cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted between August 2018 and November 2019 among 38 patients who presented to ENT and Ophthalmology departments of Federal Teaching Hospital Ido-Ekiti, Ekiti State, Southwestern Nigeria and were diagnosed with both allergic rhinitis and allergic conjunctivitis. Sample size was obtained using G*Power version 3.1.9 software to calculate the power analysis and determine the optimal sample size. The type of power analysis chosen within G*Power is “a priori: computer required sample size –given α, power, and effect size” and the test family chosen was Chi square tests. The statistical test chosen was Goodness of fit tests: contingency tables. The effect size identified was 0.5 (large effect size), the alpha level was 0.05 while the power level was 0.80. The total sample size calculated was 32 however all 38 patients that presented to ENT and Ophthalmology with both allergic rhinitis and allergic conjunctivitis between August 2018 and November 2018 were enrolled into the study. Relevant history was taken and clinical examinations were carried out on the patients. Adequate treatment was offered and each patient was followed up for 3 months to evaluate the response to the treatment given. The data collected from thepatients were entered into the computer software and analyzed using SPSS version 20. P ≤ 0.05 was taken as significant
Infrastructural Development, a Panacea to Poverty Alleviation
Full text linkInfrastructural development is a key driver for economic development and progress in a country and
a critical enabler for productivity and sustainable economic growth. The paper identified infrastructure as a
major factor that determines the people’s wellbeing and by extension their level of prosperity or poverty. It also
identified the following; education, transportation, health, clean water and sanitation, social service and
electricity supply as critical components of infrastructure. This paper reviewed the status of these critical
infrastructure in Nigeria and the level of the effectiveness of past poverty alleviation programmes in Nigeria. A
survey method was used. It was found that the past poverty alleviation programmes of government had been
unsuccessful because of many factors, among these were, the lack of continuity of programmes and the low level
of infrastructure addition and the deterioration of the existing ones. It was found that Nigeria suffers high
degree of infrastructural deficit caused by poor funding, mismanagement of available funds, poor
infrastructural maintenance management and corruption. All these continued to perpetuate poverty.
Recommendations to use infrastructure as a panacea to alleviate poverty were liste
Clinicoepidemiology of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo in Nigerian
Full text linkObjective: Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) is poorly reported in developing countries. This study aimed at determining
the prevalence, aetiology, and comorbid illnesses of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo in our center. Materials and Methods: This
was a prevalence hospital‑based study of all patients with the diagnosis of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV). Pretested
interviewer assisted questionnaire was administered to obtain data. Otoscopic examination, otoneurologic review, followed by
mandatory Dix Hallpike maneuver and supine roll test was performed on all patients to diagnose posterior, lateral or anterior canal
benign paroxysmal positional vertigo. All the data obtained were collated and analyzed by using SPSS version 16.0. Results: Prevalence
was 1.9%. Peak prevalence of 37.0% was at age group 41–50 years. Male accounted for 46.1% with male to female ratio of 1:1.2.
Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo accounted for 62.3% urban dwellers, 33.1% postsecondary education, 39.6% Civil servant
and 33.8% married. There were 99.4% unilateral and 64.3% right benign paroxysmal positional vertigo. Idiopathic was 70.1% while
trauma, migraine, and inner ear disorder were 20.8%, 7.1%, and 1.9%, respectively. Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo was 66.2%
posterior semicircular canal followed by 24.7% lateral semicircular canal and 0.6% anterior semicircular canal. Commonly associated
comorbid illnesses were visual disorder, hypertension, arthritis, and diabetes mellitus in 27.9%, 23.4%, 22.1%, and 2.6%, respectively.
Conclusion: Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo is common otologic disorder. It is associated with significant comorbid illnesses.
Early detection will reduce morbidity and mortality. Improvement in the level of health care at primary level and health education
to create awareness among the populace is to be encouraged
Vehicle plate number localization using a modified GrabCut algorithm
Full text linkVehicle plate number recognition plays an important role in traffic control and surveillance systems. A
key stage in any vehicle plate number recognition system is to first locate the vehicle plate number. In
this paper, we present a modified GrabCut algorithm for localizing vehicle plate numbers. In contrast
with the traditional interactive GrabCut technique, a modified GrabCut algorithm was designed to iden-
tify and extract vehicle plate numbers in a completely automatic manner. Our approach extends the use
of the traditional GrabCut algorithm with addition of a feature extraction method which uses geometric
information to give accurate foreground extraction. Finally, to evaluate the performance of the proposed
technique, the localization accuracy is tested with a dataset of 500 vehicle images with vehicle plates
from different countries. An accuracy of 99.8% was achieved for the localization of vehicle plates.
Comparative analysis is also reported
GABAA receptor plasticity in neuropathic pain: pain and memory effects in adult female rats
Full text linkBackground
Neuropathic pain has been shown to increase excitability of neurons. This indicates
altered inhibitory mechanism of the nervous system.
Objective
This work was aimed to assess GABAA receptors plasticity in the brain and spinal
cord.
Materials and methods
Fifteen adult female rats were used. Ten animals have their sciatic nerve ligated
with no treatment (LIG), and with diazepam treatment for 14 days (LIG+GABA) and
the other five were used as the sham group. Pain was assessed using a hot plate
and formalin test, while the spatial memory was assessed using Y-maze. At the end
of the treatment, the animals were euthanized and fixed using the transcardial
perfusion fixation method. The spinal cord, cingulate cortex, and the hippocampus
were serially sectioned and stained for GABAA receptor immunohistochemically.
Quantification was done using ImageJ software. Data were analyzed using oneway
analysis of variance and Newman Tukey post-hoc test significant level was set
at P less than 0.05.
Results
A low level of pain was observed in LIG and LIG+GABA animals on both formalin
and hot plate test compared with the control. Memory impairment was found only in
the LIG+GABA group. Stereology counting showed that GABAA receptors reduced
in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus of LIG-treated animals which was reversed
in LIG+GABA, but in the cingulate cortex, GABAA receptors were increased in LIG
animals and LIG+GABA more than the control while the spinal cord shows no
significant difference.
Conclusion
GABAA agonist treatment did not alleviate the symptoms of neuropathic pain due to
GABA signaling changing to excitatory in nature
Self Ear Cleaning: Prevalence and Profile among School Children in Ekiti, Nigeria
Full text linkSelf-cleaning of ears with different objects is a common practice
among school children with scanty report in literature. Aim: The aim of this
study was to determine the prevalence and profile of self-ear cleaning among
school children. Methods: It was a cross-sectional institutional-based study
which was carried out among school children in Ekiti, south western Nigeria
from January 2017, to March 2017. Results: A total of 174 students participated in this study. Their age ranged between 13 and 17 years. The highest
number of participant was found at the age of 15 years. One hundred and
eighteen (67.8%) of them had carried out self ear cleaning. Personal hygiene
was the commonest reason for self ear cleaning in 28.8% of the students.
Cotton buds were mostly used by the respondents in 51.7% of them. Injury to
the external auditory canal (EAC) was the most recorded complications.
Conclusion: The outcome of this study shows that self-ear cleaning practices
were common among school children with a prevalence of 67.8%. Cotton
buds were the commonest objects used. Avoidable complications were reported among respondents. There is a need to intensify efforts on public enlightenment programme and the establishment of school health programme
in our various schools
Inventory Management: An Impetus for Increased Profitability in Manufacturing Firms
Full text linkThis study evaluated the degree of relationship between inventory management and profitability of manufacturing
firmsin Nigeria. International Breweries Plc was adopted as case study. Secondary data were sourced from the company’s
annual reports for the period of 10 years. A simple linear regression model was specified to test the correlation between
variables used. Stock turnover ratio was used to capture the relationship between costs of sales incurred in generating total
revenue and the inventory utilized in for production and distribution. The result generated from the study showed that the
company operates an efficient Inventory Management System which has strong influence on its profitability. The correlation
coefficient (r) was 85.3% while r2 was 72.7%. The study concluded that the efficient inventory management contributed
significantly to profitability of manufacturing companies. The study recommended that manufacturing firms should focus on
improving on their inventory management system by adopting a more efficient approach in utilizing inventory items
Birth Preparedness and Complication Readiness among Pregnant Women Attending Selected Health Centres in Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State, Nigeria
Full text linkIntroduction: This study assessed birth preparedness and complication readiness (BP/CR) and its
associated factors among pregnant woman attending selected health care facilities in Ado-Ekiti,
Ekiti state, Nigeria.
Methods: A cross-sectional study design was employed. Two hundred and six pregnant women
were randomly selected from four health care facilities. Data were analysed using descriptive,
binary and multiple logistic regression analysis. The level of significance was set at P <0.05.
Results: The overall prevalence of BP/CR was 70.6% (n = 125). About 149 (81%) already
identified a place of delivery, 114 (62%) identified skilled birth attendant, and 160 (87%) saved
money for delivery. However only 30 (16.3%) of the respondents made arrangement for blood
donor in case of emergency. Religion, parity, and knowledge of at least two obstetric danger signs were significantly associated with the extent of BP/CR practice. Being a Christian (AOR = 6.15,
95% CI: 1.65 – 22.97) and having knowledge of at least two obstetric danger signs (AOR = 5.80,
95% CI: 1.81 – 18.56) were significant predictors of good BP/CR practices.
Conclusions: Health care providers should stress the importance of identifying blood donor in
case of emergency and antenatal clinics should be goal - and client-oriented and time effective.
BP/CR should be made an integral part of maternal and child health services as the occurrences of
complications during the process of childbirth are unpredictable