Drug adherence among adult hypertensives attending medical out-patient clinic in a tertiary hospital in Ogun State, Nigeria

Objective: The research aimed to estimate the level of drug adherence, to determine the reasons for non-adherence, and identify risk factors associated with non -adherence among adult hypertensive clients attending an out-patient clinic in Ogun State, Nigeria. Methodology: A descriptive cross-sectional study of adults with hypertension at a medical outpatient clinic in a tertiary hospital. Four hundred and four (404) respondents were selected from November 2015 to April 2016, a validated questionnaire by Morisky Green was adapted and distributed by trained research assistants. The chi-square test was used to compare categorical variables like sex, marital status, and clinic attendance among the two groups of adherent and non-adherent hypertensive. Information was summarized using frequency tables and cross-tabulations. Binary logistic regression analysis was done. The level of significance was set at 5%. Results: Optimal adherence was observed in 281(69.0%) of the respondents. Being a female (OR: 1.833; 1.048 -7.205, p=0.034), being employed (OR: 2.099; 1.097-4.096, p=0.03) and regular clinic attendance (OR: 22.26; 12.647 – 39.107, p<0.001) were significantly correlated with optimal adherence. Forgetfulness (23, 9.9%), use of traditional medicines (42, 18.1%), lack of funds (59, 25.4%), and feeling well (60, 25.9%) were some of the reasons for suboptimal adherence Conclusion: The level of drug adherence among the respondents was good, especially among those that attend clinics regularly, those that are employed, and female respondents. Suboptimal adherence among the few respondents was due to forgetfulness, the use of traditional medicine, lack of funds, and stopping the use of drugs when they felt better

Condom use and associated factors among HIV-positive patients accessing care at a private tertiary health institution in the southwest, Nigeria

Objective: This study aimed to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice towards condom utilization and other associated factors among people living with HIV/AIDS enrolled in the Virology clinic in Babcock University Teaching Hospital (BUTH) Ilishan, Ogun state, Nigeria. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among 285 ART users selected using a systematic random sampling method. The minimum sample size was estimated using the formula z2pq/d2 and a 24% prevalence extracted from a previous similar study. Data were elicited using a structured interviewer-administered questionnaire, analyzed using SPSS version 20, and presented as tables. The Chi-square test was used to assess associations between categorical variables. The level of significance was set at the 95% confidence interval with a p-value of 0.05. Results: Of the total respondents, 180(63.2%) were females, 93.7% had good knowledge, 141(49.5%) believed ARV prevents transmission of HIV, and 144 (50.5%) strongly agreed that condom reduces sexual pleasure. Majority 254 (89.1%) were currently using condoms, 131 (46.0%) used a condom consistently, while 108 (37.9%) frequently use a condom during sexual intercourse. The Use of condoms had statistically significant associations with occupation (p<0.001), married at pre-diagnosis of HIV (p<0.001), married at post-diagnosis of HIV (p<0.001), and education (p= 0.015). Conclusion: The majority of the respondents had good knowledge and were using condoms. Discussions on safe sex and improved positive attitudes towards condom-use should, however, be encouraged further

HIV Patients’ Satisfaction with Services Provided at Tertiary Health Institutions in Ogun East Senatorial District, Ogun State, Nigeria: Public-private Comparison

Background: Patient satisfaction is defined as the extent to which patients feel that their needs and expectations are being met by the services provided. A good number of HIV patients often drop out of treatment programs because they are not satisfied with some aspects of the services provided. This study assessed and compared HIV patients’ satisfaction with health services provided at public and privately owned tertiary health institutions in Ogun State, Nigeria.Methods: This is a facility-based 2-center (a government-funded and a privately funded), cross-sectional comparative study carried out among HIV-positive patients who received care at these two tertiary hospitals. HIV patients’ satisfaction was assessed using PSQ III. Two hundred patients were recruited from each institution. A comparison of mean satisfaction scores was done using the student’s t-test. Logistic regression analysis was used to predict the factors associated with patients’ satisfaction.Results: The mean ages of study participants were 42.25±10.81 and 44.04±9.97 for public and private health facilities, respectively (t=-1.717 P=0.087). The mean satisfaction scores of the private health facility (3.48+0.42) were higher compared to those of the public health facility (3.29±0.54) (t=-3.912, P=0.000). Also, more patients in the private health facility were satisfied with the care received compared to the public health facility in six domains out of the seven domains studied.Conclusion: Patients’ satisfaction evaluation should be done periodically in health facilities to continually identify the gaps in service delivery and monitor progress towards the ending of HIV/ AIDS epidemics which is one of the targets of the sustainable development goals

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

C6H5NH2 effect on the corrosion inhibition of aluminium in 0.5 M HCl

In this paper, C6H6NH2 (aniline) effect on the corrosion of aluminium in 0.5 M (i.e. mol/L) HCl medium was studied using gravimetric method by weight loss measurements and electrochemical technique of corrosion potential and potentiodynamic polarization by cyclic voltamery (CV) instrumentation. By these techniques, corrosion rate obtained from aluminium specimens, in 0.5 HCl test-solution having different concentrations of the hydrogen-containing C6H6NH2 chemical, were requisitely analysed. Results showed that the potentiodynamic corrosion rate excellently correlated (R = 98.94%, Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency = 97.89% and ANOVA p-value = 0.0314) with function of the gravimetric corrosion rate and C6H5NH2 concentration. Both experimental and correlated prediction models identified 0.043 mol/L C6H5NH2 with optimal inhibition efficiency performance η = 84.11% by the experimental or η = 81.15% by the predicted models. Fittings of experimental and correlated data showed the data models followed the Langmuir adsorption isotherm from which favourable adsorption and prevalent physisorption were indicated as the C6H5NH2 corrosion-protection on aluminium metal in the 0.5 M HCl medium

Inhibition and mechanism of Terminalia catappa on mild-steel corrosion in sulphuric-acid environment

Mild-steel samples were immersed in 0.5 M H2SO4 having different concentrations of Terminalia catappa leaf-extract for investigating inhibition and mechanism of the leaf-extract on mild-steel corrosion in the testenvironment. Corrosion-rate measurements were obtained by potentiodynamic polarisation and gravimetric techniques and analysed for detailing sustainable corrosion-protection by the natural-plant in the test-environment. Results indicate potentiodynamic corrosion-rate correlated excellently (R = 99.25%, Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE) = 98.52%, ANOVA p-value = 0.0222) with function of the gravimetric corrosion-rate and the leaf-extract concentration. By the experimental and correlated results, inhibition effectiveness on mild-steel corrosion increased with increasing leaf-extract concentration up to the 8 g/L Terminalia catappa leaf-extract, which exhibited optimal inhibition efficiency, η = 99.99% (experimental model) or η = 95.45% (correlation prediction). Correlation prediction, potentiodynamic and gravimetric data followed the Langmuir and the Flory-Huggins adsorption isotherms with agreements of favourable adsorption/prevalent physisorption mechanism for the leaf-extract corrosion-protection of mild-steel in the test-environment