The effect of processing and preservation methods on the oxalate levels of some Nigerian leafy vegetables

Titrimetric analysis was used to estimate the level of oxalate in some Nigerian leafy vegetables treated in different ways in two sets of experiments. The treatments were boiling with retention of the water used for boiling, and freezing followed by boiling without retention of the water used for boiling. Results obtained showed that the former in which five different vegetables were used led to significant increases (

Development and preliminary testing of a culturally-friendly pain assessment tool for children (crying faces pain scale)

Background and aims: Having a universal tool for assessing pain in children is hamstrung by cultural sensitivity. This study aimed to develop and validate a culturally-friendly pain assessment tool (i.e. Crying Faces Pain Scale (CFPS)) among Nigerian Children. Material and methods: This study employed criterion-standard design. The study was in three phases, namely: (1) development of CFPS, (2) cross-validity and (3) validation of the CFPS. 70 children (39 (55.7%) males and 31 (44.3%) females) within the age range of 4-13 years who had post-surgical pain, orthopaedic pain, stomach pain or headache were involved in the validation phase. Psychometric properties and preferences for the CFPS compared with the Wong-Baker FACES Pain Rating Scale (FACES) were examined. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data. Alpha level was set at p<0.05. Results: The median score of the CFPS was 4.60 compared to FACES median score of 4.49. There was weak correlation between FACES and CFPS (r=0.325; p=0.006). Preference score as a culturally friendly tool for CFPS and FACES was 6.07±1.23 and 3.67 ±1.09 respectively, based on a modified 0-10 numerical pain scale. Conclusions: The crying faces pain scale has fair psychometric properties for assessing pain in children. However, CFPS was preferred to FACES as a culturally friendly tool for assessing pain among Nigerian children. Implications: The CFPS is more culturally friendly and so might be better suited as a pain scale in Africa. However, due to its fair psychometric properties, further studies may be needed to improve upon this scale