Hydranencephaly in Malawian children

Objective: To show that not all big heads in children are due to hydrocephalus.Setting: The Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (QECH), Blantyre, the teaching hospital of Malawi College of Medicine. It is the biggest and leading hospital in Malawi and the major referral centre for the whole country.Design: A prospective study was made of all children who presented at QECH, Blantyre with the diagnosis of hydrocephalus during the study period.Subjects: Fifteen cases of hydranencephaly were encountered.Intervention: All cases of abnormally large heads were investigated with cranial ultrasonography, a few children had air ventriculography and CT scan of the brain. All patients had ventricular aspiration of cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) to verify the colour and condition of the fluid before performing ventriculo-peritoneal shunting for which our locallymade Malawi unishunt was used.Results: In hydranencephaly, the brain was found replaced by large fluid-filled cavity in contrast to hydrocephalus where brain was present and ventricular dilatation was encountered. Ventriculo-peritoneal shunting benefited children with hydrocephalus but not those with hydranencephaly.Conclusion: Hydranencephaly is one of the causes of abnormal head enlargement in children often confused with hydrocephalus. It is important to recognise hydranencephaly to avoid unnecessary operation which does not help the patient

CHANGES IN SPERMIOGRAMS, BIOCHEMICAL AND PHYSIOLOGICAL INDICES FOLLOWING SUCCESSIVE ELECTROEJACULATION DURING DIFFERENT PERIODS OF THE DAY IN WEST AFRICAN DWARF BUCKS

This study was conducted to investigate the changes that might occur in spermiograms, blood andphysiological indices following successive electroejaculation (EE) during different periods of the day.Twenty (20) West African Dwarf (WAD) bucks were grouped into four consisting of five bucks eachand ejaculated at 0900, 1200, 0300 and 0600Hrs for 3 successive days in a completely randomizeddesign. The results showed that progressive sperm motility, sperm concentration and mass activityfollowed similar trend and the values deteriorated with respect to elevated temperatures during semencollection periods (p<0.05). Also, primary abnormality increased with respect to elevated temperaturesduring semen collection periods (p<0.05). The results also showed that Testosterone, Na+,K+,GlucoseAlanine Aminotransferase (ALT), Alkaline Phosphatase (ALP) and Aspartate Aminotransferase(AST) were similar irrespective of the periods of semen collection except cortisol that increased withrespect to the semen collection periods (p<0.05). The rectal temperature and pulse rate were not affected,irrespective of the period of the day bucks were ejaculated. The findings of this study indicatethat reduced ejaculate quality probably reflects stress stimuli arising from increased ambient temperature.Physiological traits in WAD goat is probably the adaptive mechanism evolved to cope with stressarising from elevated temperature

Youth Farmers’ Coping Strategies with Climate Change in Osun State, Nigeria

The study investigated youth farmers’ coping strategies with climate change in Osun State, Nigeria. Data were gathered through structured interview schedule from 150 farming youths that are ex-trainees of Leventis Foundation School of Agriculture, Ilesa Osun State. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistical tools such as frequency counts, percentage, mean and standard deviation while correlation and chi square were used to test the hypothesis. The mean age of farming youths in the study area was 27.7 ± 9.0 years. Majority (72.0%) were male who spent an average of 13.9 ± 1.3 years in formal school. The mean of years of farming experience was 8.6 ± 3.8. The youth were fully aware of climate change which had affected their food production enterprises. There were positive and significant relationship between coping strategies of the respondents and their age (r= 0.546; ?? 0.01); years of formal education(r= 0.484; ?? 0.01); and farming experience(r= 0.503; ?? 0.01). It was concluded that climate change is inevitable, that there is need to devise strategies to cope with its devastating impact on food production especially of the farming youths. Exploration of media source of information for coping strategies was recommended. Keywords: climate change, coping strategies, youth farmer

Influence of urea-fortified corncob diets on growth performance and carcass characteristics in West African dwarf goats

The experiment was carried out to determine the effect of urea-fortified concentrate corncob diets on growth performance and carcass characteristics of West African dwarf (WAD) goats. Fifteen WAD goats with an average weight of 9.33 kg were studied. The animals were weighted and randomly assigned to five (5) treatments in a completely randomized design (CRD). The treatments were of different levels i.e. 0%, 1%, 2%, 3% and 4% of urea in corncob-based concentrate diets. Results showed variation (P<0.05) in the live weight among all the treatments while no effect was observed in average daily weight gain, average daily feed intake and feed conversion ratio, carcass and non-carcass characteristics among the treatment groups. However, the physicochemical properties of the meat showed that meat water holding capacity, moisture, dry matter, crude fibre and ash were not influenced by urea but there was a significant  (P<0.05) difference in meat pH and meat crude protein among the treated groups. In conclusion, for better performance in the live weight gain of WAD goats, 3% best level inclusion of urea fortified corncob diet should be taken into cognizance. Keywords: Carcass characteristics; Corncob; Urea; West African Dwarf Goats; Nigeria

Causes of delay in the definitive treatment of compound depressed skull fractures: A five-year study from Nigeria

Background: Calvarial fractures may be linear, depressed or ping-pong, and each can be compound (open) or simple (closed). When depressed fractures become compound, they cause contamination, resulting in intracranial sepsis. All depressed fractures with scalp breach are considered compound, whether or not the breach is contiguous with the fracture. They, therefore, become almost an absolute indication for operative treatment by elevation and debridement, to avert intracranial sepsis. Definitive treatment should be within 72 hours or else it would be unsafe to preserve the bone fragments.Method: This was a retrospective study in which a review of the outcome from management of compound depressed skull fractures (CDSF) in the Institute of Neurological Sciences, University College Hospital, UCH, Ibadan Nigeria referral Centre for neurological diseases was undertaken from November 1997 to October 2002. Data was retrieved from ward, theatre and out-patient records and subsequently analyzed for the time interval between time of injury treatment and the cause of delays in surgery, if any.Results: Of the 75 cases treated for CDSF with a Male: Female ratio of 11.5:1, only 54 had complete records and all were treated by elevation, debridement and craniectomy, resulting in cranial defects. There was delayed treatment in most of the cases at various stages from the time of injury, with most of them arising after presentation in our Centre.Conclusion: Delayed treatment, was our major source of morbidity and most of the delay was traceable to our hospital processes. Scalp suturing before definitive treatment did not contribute to delay. Non-specialist care givers should be encouraged to refer patients without delay

Development of a realtime microcomputer-based logging system for diagnosis and research

In this research, a realtime temperature logging system that logs human temperature into the computer over a period was developed and the temperature chart produced is useful for diagnosis and research purposes. The graphical representation within the threshold temperature (36°C) depicts normal body temperature of a healthy person. An upshot beyond this temperature makes the logger to signal an audible alarm for medical attention. It consists of hardware and software units. The hardware consists of sensor NTC (negative coefficient of temperature) thermistor, pre-amp; analog to digital converter, buffer between analog to digital converter and computer interface port. The software was developed in Visual Basic 6.0 for interfacing through the parallel port of the computer and the program designed to provide a user-friendly environment where the measurement can be read. There is high correlation between the approach developed by this study and other standard measuring equipments — correlation of 0.994574 with standard thermistor, and correlation of 0.997785 with standard thermocouple. The temperature logged to the PC can also be viewed from another PC remotely located over a network thus providing a good framework for telemedicine

Haematological and hepatic indices of cockerels fed treated dietary Blighia sapida seeds

Ninety-six day old Lairier cockerel chicks were used in an experiment to evaluate the after effects of detoxifying (soaking, boiling, addition of riboflavin and glycine to antagonize hypoglycins) dietary Blighia sapida (ackee apple) seed meal, BSSM. Blood chemistry, haematology, liver morphology indices which dietary BSSM influenced and reflected in the performance characteristics of the cockerels investigated in a single-factor experimental design experiment were assessed. Results showed that the residual phytotoxins of BSSM, hypoglycins A & B with their metabolite MCPA at 17.50% inclusion of the processed BSSM in diets elicited reduction in glucose, protein, albumin, globulin while elevating blood cholesterol, creatinine, urea,total and conjugated bilirubin relative to the reference diet (p <0.05).Dietary BSSM similarly increased the transaminase activities of AST/SGOT, ALT/SGPT including ACP (p < 0.05). BSSM based diets also caused significant reduction in PCV, RBC, WBC, Hb as well as MCV, MCH and MCHC similar to the results obtained on WBC differential counts of neutrophils and lymphocytes in comparison with the conventional diet (p < 0.05). Histopathological examinations on the liver samples revealed that the control diet presented livers that were normal in tissue morphology without inflammation or haemorrhage while the photomicrographs of the liver samples of cockerels fed treated dietary BSSM at 17.50% inclusion showed morphological patterns indicating severe distortion suggesting evidence of haemorrhage and inflammation with numerous blood cells occupying the available hepatic sinuses. The poor results recorded on the biochemical, haematological and morphological parameters were reflected in performance characteristics as reduced feed intake, weight gain, growth rate, feed efficiency and high mortality were obtained on diets containing BSSM compared with the orthodox diet (p < 0.05). Findings of this experiment indicated that for optimum results, processed BSSM be included in diets below the 17.50% level considered high for the birds in this study.KEYWORDS: Cockerels, BSSM, treatments, blood chemistry,haematological and performance indice