Mandatory HIV testing as a prerequisite for surgical procedures: Perspectives on rights and ethics

Background. Undergoing mandatory HIV testing as a criterion for a surgical or invasive procedure is illegal in Nigeria, and unethical. This includes requesting an HIV test without the consent of the client, and the disclosure of the test results.Objectives. To assess the practice of mandatory HIV testing among health practitioners, and to examine HIV testing without consent, and the disclosure of test results to the patient.Methods. This was a cross-sectional survey of both medical doctors and nurses with surgical skills. We used convenience sampling to select respondents from Jos University Teaching Hospital, Nigeria and Federal Teaching Hospital, Gombe, Nigeria. A total of 99 respondents filled and returned a questionnaire. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 20 was used to manage the data, and the results were presented using descriptive statistics.Results. Over one-third (34.3%) of the respondents reported that they would insist on seeing an HIV test result before performing a surgical or invasive procedure; meanwhile, 4 (4%) of the respondents had refused to render surgical or invasive intervention to HIV clients, while (3%) admitted having refused surgical procedures to patients who refused to take an HIV test. The majority of the respondents (79; 79.8%) reported that the basic equipment and consumables needed for universal precautions were either not available or grossly inadequate.Conclusion. Requests for patients to take an HIV test before surgical procedures are frequent; however, only a few respondents had ever refused to provide a surgical intervention on the basis of a patient’s HIV-positive status. Equipment and consumables necessary for universal precautions were either not available or grossly inadequate in the surveyed hospitals

The evolving SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in Africa: Insights from rapidly expanding genomic surveillance

INTRODUCTION Investment in Africa over the past year with regard to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) sequencing has led to a massive increase in the number of sequences, which, to date, exceeds 100,000 sequences generated to track the pandemic on the continent. These sequences have profoundly affected how public health officials in Africa have navigated the COVID-19 pandemic. RATIONALE We demonstrate how the first 100,000 SARS-CoV-2 sequences from Africa have helped monitor the epidemic on the continent, how genomic surveillance expanded over the course of the pandemic, and how we adapted our sequencing methods to deal with an evolving virus. Finally, we also examine how viral lineages have spread across the continent in a phylogeographic framework to gain insights into the underlying temporal and spatial transmission dynamics for several variants of concern (VOCs). RESULTS Our results indicate that the number of countries in Africa that can sequence the virus within their own borders is growing and that this is coupled with a shorter turnaround time from the time of sampling to sequence submission. Ongoing evolution necessitated the continual updating of primer sets, and, as a result, eight primer sets were designed in tandem with viral evolution and used to ensure effective sequencing of the virus. The pandemic unfolded through multiple waves of infection that were each driven by distinct genetic lineages, with B.1-like ancestral strains associated with the first pandemic wave of infections in 2020. Successive waves on the continent were fueled by different VOCs, with Alpha and Beta cocirculating in distinct spatial patterns during the second wave and Delta and Omicron affecting the whole continent during the third and fourth waves, respectively. Phylogeographic reconstruction points toward distinct differences in viral importation and exportation patterns associated with the Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Omicron variants and subvariants, when considering both Africa versus the rest of the world and viral dissemination within the continent. Our epidemiological and phylogenetic inferences therefore underscore the heterogeneous nature of the pandemic on the continent and highlight key insights and challenges, for instance, recognizing the limitations of low testing proportions. We also highlight the early warning capacity that genomic surveillance in Africa has had for the rest of the world with the detection of new lineages and variants, the most recent being the characterization of various Omicron subvariants. CONCLUSION Sustained investment for diagnostics and genomic surveillance in Africa is needed as the virus continues to evolve. This is important not only to help combat SARS-CoV-2 on the continent but also because it can be used as a platform to help address the many emerging and reemerging infectious disease threats in Africa. In particular, capacity building for local sequencing within countries or within the continent should be prioritized because this is generally associated with shorter turnaround times, providing the most benefit to local public health authorities tasked with pandemic response and mitigation and allowing for the fastest reaction to localized outbreaks. These investments are crucial for pandemic preparedness and response and will serve the health of the continent well into the 21st century

Penggunaan bahan perhubungan media dalam Bahasa Melayu di Malaysia

Bahan perhubungan media seperti siaran media, nota kepada pangarang dan jemputan kepada media merupakan alat penting dalam aktiviti perhubungan awam. Penggunaan bahan ini dianggap amat berkesan, mudah dan murah bagi kegiatan komunikasi pemasaran. Kajian ini akan berfokus kepada bahan perhubungan media dalam bahasa Melayu yang diterima oleh media massa daripada pelbagai organisasi. Kaedah analisis kandungan digunakan untuk melihat beberapa aspek termasuk penggunaan bahasa pengantara, isu yang disentuh, butiran kandungan dan organisasi pengirim. Sebanyak 420 bahan perhubungan media telah dikumpulkan daripada dua organisasi media iaitu Berita Harian dan TV3 untuk digunakan sebagai sampel kajian. Dapatan menunjukkan bahan dalam bahasa Melayu yang diterima oleh kedua-kedua media adalah kurang berbanding dengan bahasa Inggeris. Organisasi seperi Kerajaan Persekutuan, kerajaan negeri dan badan berkanun banyak menggunakan bahasa Melayu dalam bahan perhubungan media berbanding swasta. Dapatan juga menunjukkan bahan perhubungan media berkaitan isu sosial dan politik banyak menggunakan bahasa Melayu berbanding isu ekonomi serta sains dan teknologi. Didapati bahan masih tidak menggunakan format penulisan kewartawanan yang menjadi asas kepada penulisan perhubungan awam. Di samping itu, tahap penggunaan bahasa juga didapati masih tidak memuaskan

Tribological evaluation of refined, bleached and deodorized palm stearin using four-ball tribotester with different normal loads

The effects of the mechanical factors with applied loads on the tribological performance of refined, bleached and deodorised (RBD) palm stearin (PS) were studied using a four-ball tribotester. All the RBD PS results were simultaneously compared with the additive-free paraffinic mineral oil (PMO). The experiments were carried out using different loads with a constant speed in order to gain a better understanding of the mechanical processes that occurred during the experiment. For each experiment, the temperature was increased to 75 °C and was run for 1 h. In a mechanical system, lubricant plays an important role in reducing wear and friction. PS exists as a semi-solid at room temperature after the fractionation process from oil palm. Due to the increasing rate of pollution to the environment, vegetable oil was chosen as the test lubricant with regard to its biodegradability. Other advantages of vegetable oil are that it is more easily harvestable and non-toxic compared to petroleum-based oil, which made it a suitable candidate. From the experiment, RBD PS is found to have a better friction constraint reduction compared with additive-free PMO