Traumatic chylothorax from a suprascapular stab wound

Reports are few of chylothorax complicating stab wounds to the left suprascapular region. We report a case of traumatic chylothorax following a stab wound to the suprascapular region in a 14-year-old boy. He presented with progressive dyspnoea and signs of a pleural effusion. This was confirmed by radiology and thoracocentesis to be a hemothorax. The hemothorax was drained by tube thoracostomy. He developed chylothorax on the third day after inserting the chest tube. Biochemical analysis confirmed chylothorax, which was managed conservatively. The chest tube was removed after it stopped draining. We discuss the pathogenesis of this form of chylothorax and the management options.Keywords: Chylothorax, Poirier’s triangle, Stab, Traum

Digital and Home Healthcare Survey among Nigerians: Assessing Awareness, Preferences, and Willingness to Pay for an Integrated Healthcare Ecosystem to achieve Universal Health Coverage

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need for evolving an integrated healthcare ecosystem that will connect patients to digital and home healthcare to achieve universal health coverage. The survey aims to assess perceptions and preferences about digital and home healthcare services and develop an integrated healthcare ecosystem. Methods: A survey of 254 Nigerians was conducted to assess their awareness, preferences, and willingness to pay for digital and home healthcare services using electronic questionnaires, and the data were analysed using SPSS 16.0. Results: Males constituted 70.9%, and 61.4% were aged ≤35 years. Two-third were clients, and a third were healthcare providers. Although about 71% patronized public hospitals, there was poor satisfaction (31.7%) than those attending private hospitals that were more satisfied. The male gender, private hospital utilization, and age of ≤35 years were associated with the satisfaction with OR 1.19 (95% CI 0.69-2.05), OR 1.22 (95% CI 0.73-2.04), and OR 2.41 (95% CI 1.38-4.20) respectively. Thirty minutes was the acceptable delay in receiving care by most respondents.  Only 39.4% were aware of digital health, and 52.8% were aware of home healthcare.  Male gender was associated with DH awareness, while being a healthcare provider was associated with both DH and home healthcare awareness. The respondents' median amount was willing to pay for DH and HH respondents is $1.64 -$6.56 and $3.28 –$6.56, respectively. Conclusion: In response to the survey result, we designed an integrated hospital, digital, and home healthcare project named eDokta, to leapfrog the attainment of universal health coverage in Nigeria

Digital and Home Healthcare Survey among Nigerians: Assessing Awareness, Preferences, and Willingness to Pay for an Integrated Healthcare Ecosystem to achieve Universal Health Coverage

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need for evolving an integrated healthcare ecosystem that will connect patients to digital and home healthcare to achieve universal health coverage. The survey aims to assess perceptions and preferences about digital and home healthcare services and develop an integrated healthcare ecosystem. Methods: A survey of 254 Nigerians was conducted to assess their awareness, preferences, and willingness to pay for digital and home healthcare services using electronic questionnaires, and the data were analysed using SPSS 16.0. Results: Males constituted 70.9%, and 61.4% were aged ≤35 years. Two-third were clients, and a third were healthcare providers. Although about 71% patronized public hospitals, there was poor satisfaction (31.7%) than those attending private hospitals that were more satisfied. The male gender, private hospital utilization, and age of ≤35 years were associated with the satisfaction with OR 1.19 (95% CI 0.69-2.05), OR 1.22 (95% CI 0.73-2.04), and OR 2.41 (95% CI 1.38-4.20) respectively. Thirty minutes was the acceptable delay in receiving care by most respondents.  Only 39.4% were aware of digital health, and 52.8% were aware of home healthcare.  Male gender was associated with DH awareness, while being a healthcare provider was associated with both DH and home healthcare awareness. The respondents' median amount was willing to pay for DH and HH respondents is $1.64 -$6.56 and $3.28 –$6.56, respectively. Conclusion: In response to the survey result, we designed an integrated hospital, digital, and home healthcare project named eDokta, to leapfrog the attainment of universal health coverage in Nigeria

Digital and Home Healthcare Survey among Nigerians: Assessing Awareness, Preferences, and Willingness to Pay for an Integrated Healthcare Ecosystem to achieve Universal Health Coverage

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need for evolving an integrated healthcare ecosystem that will connect patients to digital and home healthcare to achieve universal health coverage. The survey aims to assess perceptions and preferences about digital and home healthcare services and develop an integrated healthcare ecosystem. Methods: A survey of 254 Nigerians was conducted to assess their awareness, preferences, and willingness to pay for digital and home healthcare services using electronic questionnaires, and the data were analysed using SPSS 16.0. Results: Males constituted 70.9%, and 61.4% were aged ≤35 years. Two-third were clients, and a third were healthcare providers. Although about 71% patronized public hospitals, there was poor satisfaction (31.7%) than those attending private hospitals that were more satisfied. The male gender, private hospital utilization, and age of ≤35 years were associated with the satisfaction with OR 1.19 (95% CI 0.69-2.05), OR 1.22 (95% CI 0.73-2.04), and OR 2.41 (95% CI 1.38-4.20) respectively. Thirty minutes was the acceptable delay in receiving care by most respondents.  Only 39.4% were aware of digital health, and 52.8% were aware of home healthcare.  Male gender was associated with DH awareness, while being a healthcare provider was associated with both DH and home healthcare awareness. The respondents' median amount was willing to pay for DH and HH respondents is $1.64 -$6.56 and $3.28 –$6.56, respectively. Conclusion: In response to the survey result, we designed an integrated hospital, digital, and home healthcare project named eDokta, to leapfrog the attainment of universal health coverage in Nigeria

Assessment of extracellular activities of novel microorganisms for biodegradation of palm oil mill effluent (POME)

Palm oil mill effluent (POME) constitutes 60% of the wastes generated in typical palm oil mill and its environmental impact has been identified to be harmful to aquatic lives. This project examined the potential of degrading POME with microorganisms that are indigenous to POME. Thus, two microorganisms were isolated from POME using serial dilution (10−1 to 10−10) procedure on solid plates containing Potato Dextrose Agar (PDA), Sabouround Dextrose Agar (SDA) and Malt Extract Agar (MEA), respectively. The two microorganisms (TRQ1 and TRQ2) that consistently appeared on the three media plates were quantified and subjected to extracellular enzymatic activities such as amylolytic, gelatinolytic, cellulolytic and lipolytic. The two isolates, TRQ1 and TRQ2, showed negative response to amylolytic test and this confirmed that they are not fungi; however they are Gelatinolytic and Cellulolytic. TRQ1 showed low lipolytic activity while TRQ2 did not show any. The diameter covered by TRQ1 and TRQ2 on gelatin media were 8.5 and 8.0cm respectively, while the spread on cellulose media were 3.5 and 3.25 cm, respectively, on the seventh day. Furthermore, TRQ1 covered a diameter of 1.65cm while TRQ2 retained its initial diameter. These results show that TRQ1 and TRQ2 contain gelatinolytic and cellulolytic enzymes and can be utilized for the degradation of cellulosic substrates present in POME, in particular. The cheap and wide availability of the material (POME) used as source for the production of these microorganisms indicates their economic importance for industrial applications and environmental sustainability, particularly in converting waste to wealth. Keywords: Biodegradation; Cellulolytic; Gelatinolytic; Lipolytic; Microorganisms; POM

Effect of biodegradation on the physical properties of palm oil mill effluent (POME) using mixed culture of fungi

This study investigated the effects of biodegradation by the mixed culture of fungi (Pithomyces sacchari and Pestalotiopsis maculans) on selected physical properties of palm oil mill effluent (POME). Mixed culture innoculum (4% v/v) was added to autoclaved and raw POME samples, which were subjected to biodegradation at 120rpm and 35 ?C for six days. The pH, electrical conductivity, total dissolve solids and biosolids of the digested samples were quantified at 24 h intervals. These parameters for the autoclaved sample, at the end of the digestion period, were 6.88, 4.38mS/cm, 2.28 g/L and 25.6 g/L, respectively. These values were higher than 6.34, 4.24mS/cm, 2.22 g/L and 22.87g/L obtained for the raw POME sample, respectively. The kinetic studies of the degradation of POME, based on the concentration of the biosolids, were also investigated. The kinetic studies show that the degradation of the raw POME sample best fits the zero order kinetic model (R2 = 0.96), while the degradation of the autoclaved POME sample best fits the first order kinetic model (R2 = 0.83). However, the digested POME may require further treatment in order to meet standard suitable for discharge into the water body

Numerical simulation of thin-liquid film flow on inclined palne using implicit and explicit finite difference schemes

The stability and dynamics of thin liquid films has been the subject of extensive study for the past few decades. Especially, thin liquid films subjected to various physico-chemical effects, such as thermocapillarity, solutal-Marangoni and evaporative instabilities at the surface, has been the focus of research since past two decades (Burelbach et al., 1988, Joo et al, 1991; Ali et al, 2005). In addition to these instabilities, an inclined film also experiences the gravity force which may influence the nonlinear dynamics of the film coupled with other forces. van der Waals interactions being ubiquitous in nature play significant role especially at nano-scale thicknesses of such films. Flow of a Newtonian liquid on a solid support and bounded by a passive gas at the free surface is represented by Navier-Stokes equation, equation of continuity and appropriate boundary conditions. The external effects are generally incorporated in the body force term of the Navier-Stokes equation. These governing equations can then be simplified using so called long-wave approximation to arrive at a fourth order nonlinear partial differential equation, henceforth called equation of evolution (EOE) which describes the time evolution of the interfacial instability caused by internal and/or external effects. The details of the derivation of the EOE are available in the literature (Burelbach et al., 1988, Joo et al., 1991; Ali et al, 2005 and others). The linear stability characteristics can be obtained by the solution of the linearized equation of evolution. However, complete characterization of the nonlinear dynamics and surface morphology of thinfilm requires efficient numerical method for the solution of the equation of evolution (EOV). The extent of nonlinearity and the stiffness of the resulting differential equation depend upon the nature of various physico-chemical effects incorporated in the thin-film model. There have been several attempts to solve numerically the EOE for various thin-film models. Burelbach et al. (1988) and Ali et al. (2005) have obtained numerical solution using an implicit finite difference scheme, Joo et al. (1991) has employed Fourier spectral method while Sharma and Jameel (1993) have used Fourier collocations methods. This is certainly not an exhaustive coverage of all such works reported in the literature. Currently, we are working at the numerical simulation of the flow of the inclined thin films subject to evaporative and thermocapillary instabilities as well as instabilities owing to long range van der Waals interactions. A simple explicit finite difference (FD) formulation of the EOE is being attempted probably for the first time to our knowledge, besides an implicit FD scheme. Present work, compares these two numerical schemes - an implicit finite difference scheme called Crank Nicholson mid-point rule and a fully explicit finite difference discretization as described below, and applied to nonlinear equation of evolution for a thin liquid film flowing down an inclined plane under isothermal and non-isothermal condition