Perception of Medical Students on the Effect of Covid-19 on Medical Education in Nigeria

Background: The lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted normal activities including undergraduate medical education in Nigeria, similar to the rest of the world. Nigeria as a low- and middle-income country had peculiar challenges in adjusting to the new norm. This study aimed to assess Nigerian medical student’s perception of the effect of COVID-19 on their learning. Methods: A semi-structured, pre-tested online questionnaire was administered to consenting medical students from thirty-three medical schools in Nigeria. Questions assessed the effect of COVID-19 on study and wellbeing, as well as the perception of interventions from institutions and student organizations to reduce the lockdown consequence on learning. Data was analyzed using (SPSS) version 25. Results: A total of 623 students from 33 institutions participated. All private institutions and 25% of public institutions had commenced online lectures/tutorials, 92% of students in private institutions and 21% in public institutions had attended online lectures/tutorials. Of those who did not attend institution-organized classes, 30.5% were opposed to online lectures, the main reasons stated being internet cost/availability and inefficiency. About 65% of the participants were aware of student-organized online tutorials/seminars. Eighty percent did not feel motivated to study and perceived their personal study to be less effective. Conclusion: Nigerian medical student’s perception of the effect of COVID-19 on their medical education was largely negative. Private institutions fared better in coping with the challenges of the pandemic. Proper planning will be needed to curb the effect of COVID-19 on students’ health and wellbeing

Design and Implementation of An Improved Four Directional Automatic Solar Powered Street Lightning System

Automatic street lightning system is very important particularly in urban and industrialized areas because of its ability to provide illumination and safety for vehicles and pedestrians throughout the night. It is relatively efficient as it consumes lesser amount of power with pre-determined operation times that are non-optimal for the surrounding environment. It is also a self-sustaining device. This research paper designed and implemented an improved four directional automatic street lightning system. It involved calculating the design parameters after selecting the appropriate devices and the cables. A solar street light is a form of renewable energy which is a stand-alone system in supply of electrical energy to be used for lightning. Solar radiation energy is used to charge the battery during daytime, and offer energy to the LEDs light equipment at night. A dimmable Modula is designed and integrated to the system to dim the LEDs at night from 01:00-06:00am.This system has a double advantage as it utilizes renewable energy and also reduces cost. Keywords: Automatic, Four Directional, Solar Power, Renewable, Street Light, Utility Grids, Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) DOI: 10.7176/JIEA/10-4-05 Publication date:September 30th 202

Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

Abstract Background Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries. Results In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries

Estimation of Groundwater Recharges Using Empirical Formulae in Odeda Local Government Area, Ogun State, Nigeria

Estimation and forecast of groundwater recharge and capacities of aquifers are essential issues in water resource investigation. In the current research, groundwater recharge and the recharge coefficient were determined through a case study using empirical methods applicable to the tropical zones. The related climatological data between January 1983 and December 2014 were collected in Ogun-Oshun River Basin Development Authority (OORBDA), Ogun State, Nigeria. The results showed that groundwater recharge was 194.7 mm per year, evapotranspiration was 1296.2 mm per year, and the recharge coefficient was 20.2% for the study area. The result showed that about 11% of rainfall infiltrated the aquifer, 73% was loss to evapotranspiration, and 36% ended up as run-off. Correlation between climatic parameters and groundwater recharge showed the highest correlation between recharge and rainfall. Temperature, humidity, solar radiation and evapotranspiraton were at the 0.01 significance level, and the results of linear regressions proved that precipitation has a significant effect (with R2 = 0.983) on estimated recharge

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma in Ibadan, Nigeria: a clinicopathologic study

Introduction: nasopharyngeal carcinoma is relatively common in our environment. It is one of the most difficult malignancies to diagnose at an early stage. The aim of the study was to determine the clinical features, clinical disease stage of nasopharyngeal carcinoma at presentation and at diagnosis as well as the histologic types at the University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria. Methods: this was a ten year retrospective study of all histologically confirmed nasopharyngeal carcinoma between January 2007 to December 2016 using clinical and pathology records and files. Results: there were 73 cases. The male: female ratio was 1.7. The age of patients ranged from 12 to 80 years with a mean age of 39 ± 16 years. The median age at diagnosis was 40 years. The peak age group of occurrence was 40-49 years. The most common symptoms were namely epistaxis in 67.1% of patients at presentation, neck mass/swelling (64.4%) and nasal mass/obstruction (63.0%). Majority (54.8%) of the patients presented late with stage 3 or 4 disease. Most (94.5%) of the tumours were of the non-keratinizing squamous cell carcinoma subtype. The keratinizing and basaloid variants accounted for 4.1% and 1.4% of the tumours respectively. Conclusion: vague, non-specific symptoms make patients present at late stages of the disease, making it almost impossible to attempt cure. The dominant histopathological type is non-keratinizing squamous cell carcinoma and resembles that seen in most parts of Nigeria and endemic areas of the world