Proximate Determinants of Women's Use of Birth Control Methods in Ota,Ogun State

Fertility regulation and pregnancy prevention are among the major health challenges of the 21st century in sub-Saharan Africa, especially in Nigeria. Contraception has been identified as an effective means of combating the problem of unwanted pregnancy and unsafe abortion and it is equally an effective means of family planning and fertility control and therefore very important in promoting maternal and child health. Women between ages 18 and 47 (n=143, mean=30.4 years) were sampled. A survey research questionnaire made up of four trajectories and consisting of sixteen (16) items was used in this study. The study made use of frequency counts, percentage, t-test analysis and regression analysis. The SPSS software was used to analyze the data. Results indicate a good knowledge of types of contraception with more than a third (83%) aware of condom as a contraceptive method. However, very few women were aware of modern contraceptive methods such as implants (9%) and spermicides (5%). The study indicates that knowledge of contraception (β = 2.244; t = 2.356; p < .05), employment status (β = 1.955; t = 2.257;p < .05) and age (β = 1.530; t = 2.203; p < .05) were good predictors of women’s contraceptive use. There was also a significant difference in women’s use of contraceptives based on contraceptive selfefficacy (t = 3.387, p < .05). Based on these findings, the study shows the need for strong advocacy,enlightenment and community mobilization for improved awareness and use of contraceptives in fertility control and preventing unwanted pregnancie

Low-Density Lipoprotein Pathway Is a Ubiquitous Metabolic Vulnerability in High Grade Glioma Amenable for Nanotherapeutic Delivery

Metabolic reprogramming, through increased uptake of cholesterol in the form of low-density lipoproteins (LDL), is one way by which cancer cells, including high grade gliomas (HGG), maintain their rapid growth. In this study, we determined LDL receptor (LDLR) expression in HGGs using immunohistochemistry on tissue microarrays from intra- and inter tumour regions of 36 adult and 133 paediatric patients to confirm LDLR as a therapeutic target. Additionally, we analysed expression levels in three representative cell line models to confirm their future utility to test LDLR-targeted nanoparticle uptake, retention, and cytotoxicity. Our data show widespread LDLR expression in adult and paediatric cohorts, but with significant intra-tumour variation observed between the core and either rim or invasive regions of adult HGG. Expression was independent of paediatric tumour grade or identified clinicopathological factors. LDLR-expressing tumour cells localized preferentially within perivascular niches, also with significant adult intra-tumour variation. We demonstrated variable levels of LDLR expression in all cell lines, confirming their suitability as models to test LDLR-targeted nanotherapy delivery. Overall, our study reveals the LDLR pathway as a ubiquitous metabolic vulnerability in high grade gliomas across all ages, amenable to future consideration of LDL-mediated nanoparticle/drug delivery to potentially circumvent tumour heterogeneity

Psychosocial Health of Adolescent living in Urban Slum Nigeria

The paper examines association of neighborhood characteristics with psychosocial statues of adolescent living in urban slums. Data for the study were obtained from a cross sectional survey among adolescent age 15-19, living in urban slums in Lagos State. Adopted a measuring scale for adverse environment and psychosocial attributes, data were analyzed using univariate and binary logistic regression analysis. Results revealed that neighborhood characteristics were associated with low self-academic performance rating. Both parental process and neighborhood factors such social disorganization was able to predict psychosocial wellbeing such subjective academic performance rating. The findings revealed among others that adverse neighborhood characteristics in urban slum were associated with unhealthy subjective wellbeing which reflects wide personal and social contexts and have implications for public health and social wellbeing. This paper calls for programmes that are tailor to addressing rapidly developing slum settlements in low income area, to secure the future generation

Parent work Status as a Push Factor for Child Labour: Implications on Schooling in Nigeria

Child labour is one of the global issues occupying the forefront of national development agendas. While the traditionalist believe it is capable of augmenting family income for family upkeep and serves as alternative means of livelihood, it is adjudged in this modern era as impediment to child schooling, violation of child rights, engenders vicious cycle of poverty, and deprivation in health and social status. The study therefore investigated the predictors of children’s involvement in child labour, its impact on school enrolment and quality of education in Nigeria. It employed only quantitative research technique. The respondents were selected using purposive and accidental sampling techniques. The opinion of 130 working children (between the ages of 5 and 14) were sought about the likely predictors for working and its impact on schooling. The findings from the study revealed that there are significant relationships between parents’ educational attainment, parent’s occupation and the practice of child labour (X2 = 25.89, P = 0.0001). The study attributed poor school performance as an adverse effect of child labour as indicated by the working school children. The study concludes that parents must take responsibility for their children while government enforces laws against child labour and the implementation of free compulsory education for all children

Awareness of Breast and Cervical Cancer among Women in the Informal Sector in Nigeria

BACKGROUND: There are no general consensuses on why the lifetime risk of dying from breast and cervical cancer in African is several times higher than that of developed countries. However, a notable window of opportunity for prevention and treatment are often wasted where there are little or no awareness and low level of screening. AIM: To specifically highlight the awareness, knowledge and determinants of participation in the screening exercise for possible prevention or control of the diseases. To also provide insights on the development of contextual and relevant timely detection for effective early interventions. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted in southern and northern geopolitical zones of Nigeria. The respondents, which consisted of 1,023 women aged 15-49 years, completed a 116-item questionnaire assessing the correlation between cancer awareness and participation in screening. Nineteen, In-depth interviews were also conducted for this study. The outcome measured included awareness of breast and cervical cancer, how it can be prevented or detected, and the availability and actual participation in screening exercises. RESULTS: While women are familiar with breast cancer, little is known about cervical cancer, and the awareness of the former is not correlated with participation in screening. The lack of enthusiasm to seek screening exercise is rooted in three key factors: lack of specific information, belief, economic and inadequate screening facilities. CONCLUSION: The study thus recommends that policies and programs aimed at the breast and cervical cancers awareness and early intervention should address the underlying problems

NEIGHBOURHOOD DISADVANTAGES AND ATTITUDE TO SCHOOLING IN POOR URBAN SETTLEMENT IN NIGERIA:IMPLICATIONS FOR DEVELOPMENT

The challenges facing students in 21st century are enormous especially the adolescents in secondary schools in distress and adverse neighbourhood environment. However, only limited studies have explained the interrelationships between neighbourhood environment (such as poverty, violence and its associate stress and crime) and reading culture, academic learning and performance, school dropouts, unemployable school leavers and the existence of widening gap in economic opportunities. The paper examined association between urban neighbourhood disadvantages with poor cognitive and behavioural disposition on schooling, learning and performance. Data for the study were extracted from a cross sectional survey among 1220 senior secondary schools students selected in equal proportion from 14 secondary schools in Lagos metropolis with attrition rate of 12.9%. The state was selected for being a representative of tribe and culture, urban rich and poor setting. The study adopted a measuring scale for both adverse environment and students’ disposition. The data were analyzed using univariate and binary logistic regression analysis. The findings suggest, among others, that adverse neighbourhood characteristics in urban center are connected with the poor learning attitude and learning outcomes. It recommends simultaneous emphasis on attitudinal change motivations and compulsory secondary education policy initiatives in Nigeria and across other sub- Saharan African countries

SARS-CoV-2 variants-associated outbreaks of COVID-19 in a tertiary institution, North-Central Nigeria: Implications for epidemic control.

The COVID-19 global pandemic is being driven by evolving SARS-CoV-2 variants with consequential implications on virus transmissibility, host immunity, and disease severity. Continuous molecular and genomic surveillance of the SARS-CoV-2 variants is therefore necessary for public health interventions toward the management of the pandemic. This study is a retrospective analysis of COVID-19 cases reported in a Nigerian tertiary institution from July to December 2021. In total, 705 suspected COVID-19 cases that comprised 547 students and 158 non-students were investigated by real time PCR (RT-PCR); of which 372 (~52.8%) tested positive for COVID-19. Using a set of selection criteria, 74 (~19.9%) COVID-19 positive samples were selected for next generation sequencing. Data showed that there were two outbreaks of COVID-19 within the university community over the study period, during which more females (56.8%) tested positive than males (47.8%) (p<0.05). Clinical data together with phylogenetic analysis suggested community transmission of SARS-CoV-2 through mostly asymptomatic and/or pre-symptomatic individuals. Confirmed COVID-19 cases were mostly mild, however, SARS-CoV-2 delta (77%) and omicron (4.1%) variants were implicated as major drivers of respective waves of infections during the study period. This study highlights the importance of integrated surveillance of communicable disease during outbreaks

Low-Density Lipoprotein Pathway Is a Ubiquitous Metabolic Vulnerability in High Grade Glioma Amenable for Nanotherapeutic Delivery

Metabolic reprogramming, through increased uptake of cholesterol in the form of low-density lipoproteins (LDL), is one way by which cancer cells, including high grade gliomas (HGG), maintain their rapid growth. In this study, we determined LDL receptor (LDLR) expression in HGGs using immunohistochemistry on tissue microarrays from intra- and inter tumour regions of 36 adult and 133 paediatric patients to confirm LDLR as a therapeutic target. Additionally, we analysed expression levels in three representative cell line models to confirm their future utility to test LDLR-targeted nanoparticle uptake, retention, and cytotoxicity. Our data show widespread LDLR expression in adult and paediatric cohorts, but with significant intra-tumour variation observed between the core and either rim or invasive regions of adult HGG. Expression was independent of paediatric tumour grade or identified clinicopathological factors. LDLR-expressing tumour cells localized preferentially within perivascular niches, also with significant adult intra-tumour variation. We demonstrated variable levels of LDLR expression in all cell lines, confirming their suitability as models to test LDLR-targeted nanotherapy delivery. Overall, our study reveals the LDLR pathway as a ubiquitous metabolic vulnerability in high grade gliomas across all ages, amenable to future consideration of LDL-mediated nanoparticle/drug delivery to potentially circumvent tumour heterogeneity

Abstract 224: Establishing de novo platform for whole genome sequencing of pancreatic cyst fluid for early detection and diagnosis of pancreatic cancer

Background: Pancreatic cancer (PC) is a leading cause of cancer-related deaths globally. Accurate PC detection at early or premalignant stage, when surgery is effective, would increase survival rates and prevent unnecessary surgery or surveillance. About 10% of PC cases arise from pancreatic cystic (PCy) lesions, including intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms (IPMNs), which constitute up to 30% of resective pancreatic surgery. Current diagnostic methods cannot accurately predict which cysts are malignancy-associated. Molecular diagnostic attempts using PCy fluid (PCyF), as a liquid biopsy, to analyze common mutations associated with PC development are yet to contribute to early diagnosis. Whole genome sequencing (WGS) is utilized in various cancers, PC inclusive, for detecting genetic changes associated with carcinogenesis, but not in PCyF due to technical limitations, including isolated DNA purity.Aim: To establish a de novo platform for WGS of PCyF.Methods: Three PC cell lines (PANC1, AsPC1 and MiaPACA2) were cultured in vitro. Five PCyF samples, including one from PC patient (based on histopathology report) were obtained from the University of Hull (UoH)-based ethically approved study (TEM-PAC, NCT03536793, REC 18/LO/0736). Genomic DNA (gDNA) isolation protocol was optimized using magnetic- and column-based kits (MagMAX DNA Multi-sample and PureLink Genomic DNA; ThermoFisher) and varying number of cultured cells (100,000-500,000; to determine detection limits) and used for PCyF samples (35 - 70 μl). gDNA purity (A260/280 ≥ 1.8 and A260/230 ≥ 2) and concentration were determined using NanoDrop2000, and amount per cell was calculated. WGS of PC sample was done using 200ng of gDNA on Illumina NovaSeq6000 platform (Novogene Ltd, Cambridge, UK) at 50x sequencing depth. Sequencing reads were mapped to reference human genome (hg38) with the Burrows-Wheeler Aligner to detect disease-related genomic variants in each chromosome covered - insertion-deletions (InDels), single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), copy number variants (CNVs) and structural variants (SVs) with subsequent analysis using UoH High Performance Computer Viper.Results: Pure gDNA was isolated from all cell lines (0.03 ± 0.01 ng/cell) and from PCyF samples (217 ng - 13.8 μg; equivalent to 7,000 - 690,000 cells and 8 - 346 ng/µl). WGS of PC patient PCyF revealed several cancer-related changes/variants including 106,776 (12.31%) novel InDels, 181,000 more SNPs, CNVs (337 gains; 149 losses) and 10,024 SVs.Conclusions: We established a de novo platform for WGS analysis of gDNA isolated from small volumes of PCyF samples, including estimation of previously unknown cellular density in these liquid biopsies. Our proof-of-concept study provides a foundation for a large-scale analysis of PCyF samples from TEM-PAC and other clinical studies using WGS for early detection and diagnosis of PC

Psychosocial Health of Adolescent living in Urban Slum Nigeria

The paper examines association of neighborhood characteristics withpsychosocial statues of adolescent living in urban slums. Data for thestudy were obtained from a cross sectional survey among adolescent age15-19, living in urban slums in Lagos State. Adopted a measuring scalefor adverse environment and psychosocial attributes, data were analyzedusing univariate and binary logistic regression analysis. Results revealedthat neighborhood characteristics were associated with low self-academicperformance rating. Both parental process and neighborhood factors suchsocial disorganization was able to predict psychosocial wellbeing suchsubjective academic performance rating. The findings revealed amongothers that adverse neighborhood characteristics in urban slum wereassociated with unhealthy subjective wellbeing which reflects widepersonal and social contexts and have implications for public health andsocial wellbeing. This paper calls for programmes that are tailor toaddressing rapidly developing slum settlements in low income area, tosecure the future generation