Quality of Life and Self-Reported Common Mental Disorders: An Analysis of Patterns and Relationship in Ibadan Metropolis, Nigeria

Quality of life (QoL) is a major measure of health and wellbeing. Studies that have examined the quality of life of urban residents from a geographical view in developing countries are still emerging. This present study examines the relationship between urban residents’ quality of life and its relationship with self-reported common mental disorders. The cross-sectional survey approach which entails data collection from 1200 respondents in Ibadan city, Nigeria. WHO-5 and SRQ-20 were adapted to obtain information on quality of life and self-reported common mental disorders respectively. Descriptive and inferential statistics were employed to establish associations and analysis were carried out at 0.05 significance- level. The spatial pattern of quality of life was found to be random although there are pockets of poor quality of life. Quality of life was found to be negatively related to self-reported common mental disorders (R = -0.396). The urban ecological conditions of the study area indicate poor quality of life and this may be responsible for the increasing risk of common mental disorder in the city. The study concludes that common mental disorders exist in the urban settings and its occurrence is closely related to poor quality of life

Natural Radionuclides in Natural Spring Water Samples in Ikere – Ekiti Local Government Area, Ekiti State, Nigeria

The presence of  the radionuclides in drinking water poses a number of health hazards.  This study estimated the committed effective doses due the natural radiounuclides via consumption of spring water in the study area. 80 spring water samples were measured using gamma spectrometry.  The annual committed effective doses in Ikere local government , Ekiti State, Nigeria varied from 0.16 mSv/y to 0.22 mSv/y with a mean value of 0.20 ± 0.03 mSv/y.  The calculated annual committed effective dose is  lower than WHO recommended limit of 1.0 mSv/y for public exposure. Due to the consumption of natural spring water there is no radiological health hazards to the public within the study area. Keywords:Radionuclides, Activity concentration, Committed effective dose, Spring water, Drinking wate

Cord blood full blood count parameters in Lagos, Nigeria

Introduction: Full blood count (FBC), one of the most frequently requested for laboratory investigations, is a simple, fast and cheap test and is a reliable indicator of health. Due to its usefulness in the  assessment of health status of individuals, its parameters in cord blood, a major source of haemopoietic stem cell transplantation and an ideal source for laboratory investigations for newborns were determined to provide a useful guide to local neonatologists and stem cell transplant physicians. Methods: Three millilitres of umbilical cord blood was collected from 130 normal birth weight newborns (69 males and 61 females) whose cord were clamped immediately after delivery, at a teaching hospital in Lagos, Nigeria and full blood count parameters were determined using Sysmex autoanalyzer, model  KX-21N. Consented mothers of the newborns were selected based on, age between 18 and 45 years;  uneventful pregnancy and delivery and haemoglobin (Hb) concentration ≥ 10 g/dL. Results: There were no statistical gender differences in the mean values of Hb concentrations (M=13.27  ±1.60 g/dL; F=13.32±1.61g/dL; p=0.93), total white cell count (M=3.16±5.43 × 109/L; F=13.07±4.98  × 109/L; p= 0.92), platelet count (M= 223.64± 64.21 × 109/L; F=226.69±80.83 × 109/L; p=0.81) and other parameters. Conclusion: Mean values of full blood count parameters obtained in this study are  comparable to reports from other studies in developing countries and could be a useful guide for neonatologists and stem cell transplant physicians in our geographical location.Key words: Haemoglobin, cord blood, stem cell, umbilical cord, neonatologis

Genetics of Childhood Steroid Sensitive Nephrotic Syndrome: An Update

Advances in genome science in the last 20 years have led to the discovery of over 50 single gene causes and genetic risk loci for steroid resistant nephrotic syndrome (SRNS). Despite these advances, the genetic architecture of childhood steroid sensitive nephrotic syndrome (SSNS) remains poorly understood due in large part to the varying clinical course of SSNS over time. Recent exome and genome wide association studies from well-defined cohorts of children with SSNS identified variants in multiple MHC class II molecules such as HLA-DQA1 and HLA-DQB1 as risk factors for SSNS, thus stressing the central role of adaptive immunity in the pathogenesis of SSNS. However, evidence suggests that unknown second hit risk loci outside of the MHC locus and environmental factors also make significant contributions to disease. In this review, we examine what is currently known about the genetics of SSNS, the implications of recent findings on our understanding of pathogenesis of SSNS, and how we can utilize these results and findings from future studies to improve the management of children with nephrotic syndrome

Modelling Minimum Flow Rate Required for Unloading Liquid in Gas Wells

Liquid loading in gas well has been an interest in the Oil and Gas sector due to the reduction of ultimate recovery and also the reduction of production from such wells. Several authors have presented various models for predicting the beginning of liquid loading in a gas well, yet there are regular errors in the model outcomes. Turner et al. based his critical model on a presumption that liquid droplet is spherical and stays that way throughout the wellbore. Li’s model developed later on based on his postulation that droplets are flat in shape and stays that way throughout the wellbore. In reality, when producing in a gas well, under pressure variation, the liquid droplets alternate between sphere-shape and flat shape. Hence there is a need to incorporate the liquid droplet deformation coefficient in the liquid loading governing equation. The newly presented model considered deformation coefficient to justify irregular changes in liquid droplet due to pressure variation during the simultaneous flow of gas and liquid droplet in gas wells, therefore, predict the critical flowrate correctly as the droplet fluctuates between spherical and flat shape. The results from the newly developed model of the critical flowrate using test data provided by Coleman et al. show that the modified critical flowrate is closer to the test flow rate than the other existing models as the error obtained is -9.12688%