Pattern of psychiatric inpatient admission in Ibadan: implications for service organisation and planning

Introduction: Reports from different parts of the world has shown a seasonal pattern in psychiatric admission. Seasonal changes in climatic and social situations have been attributed. Such audit of psychiatric services is not a popular research venture in Nigeria. Objectives: The study aims to describe the pattern of old psychiatric admissions in a tertiary health facility and the socio-cultural and environmental factors that may influence the pattern. Methods: Data on monthly admissions over a 5-year period were extracted from the admission and discharge records kept by the nursing services unit. The data was processed using Microsoft excel and the pattern over the 5-year period was examined using graphical representations. Results: There were 2140 admissions during the review period, comprising 1138 ( 53.2%) females and 1002 males. The mean new admission per month was 34.55 (M:16.7, F:18.96) with a standard deviation of 7.49 for all admissions. There was a seasonal pattern in admission. Some socio-cultural and environmental factors that may explain the pattern were examined. Conclusion: This study suggests a seasonal pattern of psychiatric admission in a tertiary health facility in Ibadan. Recommendations were made on how to make use of the knowledge of the seasonal pattern of admission to mitigate disruptions in workload that may be occasioned by the observed pattern.Keywords: Admission, Pattern, Psychiatric, Seasons, Nigeri

DETERMINATION OF PERMEABILITY OF SOILS FROM FUNAAB AGRICULTURAL LAND USE, USING IMPROVISED CONSTANT HEADPERMEAMETER

The knowledge of material property of the pore space through which water flow in soil for the optimization of water supplies for agricultural and engineering projects is fast becoming challenging due to intricate geometries of the media porous structures. The study determines the permeability coefficients of soils at six different Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, (FUNAAB) land-use (Hostel-Site, Cashew Plantation, FADAMA Farm, COLPLANT Farm, Forest nursery unit, FUNAAB health center) in order to estimate the flow rate through the soil using an improvised constant head permeameter. The soils were initially analyzed for their physical properties before determining the flow rate and permeability coefficients.  The reliability of result of permeameter was compared with standards for validity. The result shows that the soils were slightly acidic with pH average of 6.8, organic carbon ranging from 0.78% to 4.49% with the highest at the Fadama site. The total nitrogen ranged between 0.1% and 8.0% and the available phosphorus ranged between 1.20 to 3.95 mg kg-1 with the highest value experienced at cashew plantation. The improvised permeameter gave a reliable result with high positive correlation in volume rate of flow in soil and time of flow. The permeability coefficient of the soil samples (K) were in the range of 2.7 x 10-5to 4.2 x 10-5with the soil type ranging from sandy-loam to loamy sand similar to the result obtained during physical analysis. The soils were of relative permeability of semi-pervious, a characteristic of poor soil transmissivity.   &nbsp

Omentalisation as adjunctive treatment of an infected femoral nonunion fracture: a case report

A three-year-old male working border collie with an infected femoral nonunion fracture was managed in a two-stage procedure involving debridement and omentalisation, followed by stabilisation with a bone plate and an autogenous cancellous bone graft. Osseous union was documented radiographically 16 weeks after surgery. Telephone follow-up one year later revealed the dog had returned to full working function without evidence of lameness. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first clinical case described in the veterinary literature using omentalisation as an adjunct to the management of an infected, biologically inactive nonunion fracture