Prenatal Screening and Genetics

Although the term 'genetic screening' has been used for decades, this paper discusses how, in its most precise meaning, genetic screening has not yet been widely introduced. 'Prenatal screening' is often confused with 'genetic screening'. As we show, these terms have different meanings, and we examine definitions of the relevant concepts in order to illustrate this point. The concepts are i) prenatal, ii) genetic screening, iii) screening, scanning and testing, iv) maternal and foetal tests, v) test techniques and vi) genetic conditions. So far, prenatal screening has little connection with precisely defined genetics. There are benefits but also disadvantages in overstating current links between them in the term genetic screening. Policy making and professional and public understandings about screening could be clarified if the distinct meanings of prenatal screening and genetic screening were more precisely observed

Estimation of Global Solar Radiation in Ibadan, Nigeria using Angstrom - Prescott and Glover - Mcculloch’s Model

In this study, the data of mean daily bright sunshine hour for Ibadan was obtained from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) at Ibadan. It was used to estimate the monthly mean global solar radiation for Ibadan (latitude and longitude ). The data considered were for a period of 2008 to 2012. Angstrom-Prescott, and Glover & McCulloch’s Models were then used to estimate the mean monthly global solar radiation at Ibadan based on the monthly mean bright sunshine hour data of Ibadan. A new sunshine based model is also proposed to estimate global solar radiation at Ibadan for a period of five years (2008 – 2012). The performance of the models are evaluated by some statistical analysis like mean bias errors, root mean square error, mean percentage error, Nash- Sutcliffe error and coefficient of correlation in order to know the most suitable model. It was discovered that the month of August is the least amount of measured global solar radiation averaged for five years (2008 – 2012) at Ibadan is 9.77kW/m2. The most suitable model for Ibadan is Model 2 (Glover & McCulloch’s Model). The results obtained were validated with data of monthly mean global solar radiation data for Ibadan, obtained from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Ibada

Clinical outcomes in hypertensive or diabetes patients who concomitantly use complementary medicines in Lagos, Nigeria

Background: The use of complementary medicines in addition to medical prescription by patients with hypertension, diabetes and other chronic diseases presents a challenge for healthcare providers in Nigeria and globally. There is very little data on the clinical outcomes in these patients.Objectives: To evaluate clinical outcomes in hypertensive or diabetic patients who use complimentary medicines in Lagos Nigeria .Design: Observational cross-sectional study.Setting: Lagos University Teaching Hospital Medical Outpatient Clinics.Subjects: Five hundred patients attending Lagos University Teaching Hospital Medical out-patient clinics with a diagnosis of diabetes mellitus or hypertension or diabetic hypertensive were studied.Main outcome measures: The effect of complementary medicines use on blood pressure and blood glucose control were evaluated.Results: The mean arterial blood pressure of non-users of complementary medicine was 115.329 mmHg and that of users was 105.138mmHg. Also the mean fasting blood sugar of non-users was 129.515mg/dl and that of users was 131.453mg/dl. (P>0.05).Conclusion: Although not statistically significant, complimentary medicines were found to be of advantage to hypertensive patients but not diabetic patients