A spatiotemporal appraisal of road traffic accident in Kaduna metropolis, Nigeria

Purpose: Road accident has been claiming lives and no amount of research will be enough to expose the causes and dangers. This study appraises the causes and analyses the variation of road accidents in the Kaduna metropolis, intending to reduce it. Research methodology: The data used was obtained from Federal Road Safety Corps and complemented by the researchers’ field survey. Eight members of the research team went to the 24 bus stops identified each month rotationally. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were applied in the analysis. Results: There was a high correlation of mortality and road accident injuries as confirmed by r-value 0.7 using pearson product moment correlation. Accidents occur most in the morning and afternoon and the season with most accident occurrence was the dry season. The combination of over speeding and other factors were the major causes of road accidents. Limitations: The study used data published in 2016, although a follow-up data verification was conducted in 2017 and 2018. Therefore, the study is old and the results might have changed and might not necessarily be reliable. Contribution: Road accidents hot spots areas, causes, and patterns were exposed to guide the road users in order to avoid the accident. The study can also be replicated in other study areas with similar characteristics

The development and validation of a scoring tool to predict the operative duration of elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy.

Peer reviewe

Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

Abstract Background Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries. Results In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries

Dietary fiber and risk of coronary heart diseases

Dietary fiber is the portion of plant-derived food that cannot be completely broken down by human digestive enzymes. Dietary fibers can be grouped generally by their solubility, viscosity, and fermentation, which affect how fibers are processed in the body. Dietary fiber has two main components: soluble fiber and insoluble fiber, which are components of plant foods, such as legumes, whole grains and cereals, vegetables, fruits, and nuts or seeds. Consumption of cereals, vegetable and fruit may lower the risk of coronary heart disease. Coronary heart disease involves the reduction of blood flow to the heart muscle due to build-up of plaque on the arteries of the heart. Dietary fiber makes three primary contributions: bulking, viscosity and fermentation. The bulking effect of some fibers reduces constipation and the risk of colon disease because they absorb water, which increases bulking and promotes regularity. Viscosity effects on fibers reduce the absorption of cholesterol and other nutrients because of the formation of gels that attenuate postprandial blood glucose and lipid rises. The formation of gels also slows gastric emptying, maintaining levels of satiety and contributing towards less weight gain. In the fermentation process, the bacteria GIT helps to digest fiber through a process of microbial fermentation to generate short chain fatty acids like acetate, propionate and butyrate. Butyrate binds to G-protein coupled receptors on the brush borders of intestinal lining and trigger a signal cascade that release GLP-1 and PYY. These peptides behave like hormones to trigger satiety. One of the reasons for eating fiber rich foods is because they promote satiety and prevent uncontrollable quest for food. People that eat food low in fiber experience over feeding issues. When people over eat they consume more calories leading to weight gain and that contributes to obesity. Obesity is the accumulation of fats in fat tissues. Excess fats are converted to cholesterol (LDL) which accumulates on the walls of the arteries and prevent the flow of blood to the heart. This is prevented when an individual consumes foods rich in fiber.</jats:p

Uric acid profile in apparently healthy people and diabetics

In recent times, hyperuricaemia has been widely diagnosed in individuals due to changes in lifestyle and as a result of disease conditions that lead to elevated levels of uric acid in the blood. Our present work is on determination of the levels of uric acid in healthy individuals and patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Prevalence of hyperuricaemia in relation to age, gender and disease condition was monitored. The results indicated that, levels of uric acid are much higher in subjects that have a combined case of hyperuricaemia and type 2 diabetes mellitus

Herbal snuff (AK-47 and HAM) induce oxidative stress and increase acetylcholinesterase enzyme activity in rat brain

Snuff has resurfaced not only in western countries but in Africa including Nigeria. It is now almost generally acceptable, among young and old in Nigeria. This research was designed to investigate the Effect of Hajiya Aisha Manpower (HAM) and AK-47 on Antioxidant Status and Acetylcholinesterase enzyme activity (AchE) of Wister Albino Rats. Thirty (30) Wister rats (110-120 g) were arbitrarily divided into five groups. Group1 (control); received only distilled water. Groups 2 and 3 (received 6 mg and 3 mg/kg b.w.t of HAM respectively). Groups 4 and 5 (received 6 mg and 3 mg/kg b.w.t AK-47 of respectively). After two months of treatments, the rats were anesthetized, blood samples were taken through heart puncture and brains of all rats were isolated and homogenized. The Result revealed Non-significant decrease in Superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activities and concomitant increase in GSH levels in treatment groups were observed in relation to the control. While a substantial increase (p˂ 0.5) in MDA was detected in treatment groups. Brain AchE activity increased significantly in all treatment groups in relation to the control. We conclude that Both AK-47 and HAM at high concentration induce oxidative stress, decreased antioxidant enzyme activities and promote degradation of acetylcholine in rat brain homogenate.</jats:p

Hypokalemic periodic paralysis in pregnancy: A case report

No Abstract

A spatiotemporal appraisal of road traffic accident in Kaduna metropolis, Nigeria

Purpose: Road accident has been claiming lives and no amount of research will be enough to expose the causes and dangers. This study appraises the causes and analyses the variation of road accidents in the Kaduna metropolis, intending to reduce it. Research methodology: The data used was obtained from Federal Road Safety Corps and complemented by the researchers’ field survey. Eight members of the research team went to the 24 bus stops identified each month rotationally. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were applied in the analysis. Results: There was a high correlation of mortality and road accident injuries as confirmed by r-value 0.7 using pearson product moment correlation. Accidents occur most in the morning and afternoon and the season with most accident occurrence was the dry season. The combination of over speeding and other factors were the major causes of road accidents. Limitations: The study used data published in 2016, although a follow-up data verification was conducted in 2017 and 2018. Therefore, the study is old and the results might have changed and might not necessarily be reliable. Contribution: Road accidents hot spots areas, causes, and patterns were exposed to guide the road users in order to avoid the accident. The study can also be replicated in other study areas with similar characteristics.</jats:p