A rare metastatic region of cervical cancer; the brain: a case report

Cervical cancer metastasizes commonly to the bone, lungs, liver and the supraclavicular lymph nodes. Rare sites of metastasis the brain, breast, paraspinal muscles, duodenum and heart have been reported. Case report: A 53-year-old postmenopausal woman presented to our facility with a one-month history of vaginal bleeding. She was found to have an exophytic cervical mass on pelvic examination. She was managed as a case of stage IIIB cervical cancer. Histology revealed Squamous Cell Carcinoma type. She had radiotherapy and was symptoms free. She represented 3 months later with visual disturbance, headache and vomiting. She was found to have metastatic lesion to her brain. She survived for 3 months and 3weeks after first treatment. Conclusion: The prognosis of cervical cancer patients with brain metastases is frequently poor with median survival of only a few months such as in this case who survived 3 months and 3 weeks after first treatment. Only few reports have incidences of long-term, disease-free survival in these patients

Epidemiology and clinicopathological pattern of endometrial carcinoma in Lagos tertiary Hospitals, South-West Nigeria.

Endometrial cancer has become a global health challenge because of its rising morbidity. Understanding the epidemiology and clinicopathological review of this disease may not only aid with treatment but also further the development of prevention strategies. Objectives: To review the epidemiology and clinicopathological pattern of endometrial cancer in 2 Lagos Tertiary Hospitals between January 1997 to December 2016. Methodology: This is a retrospective study conducted at the oncology clinics of Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) and Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH). Patients' sociodemographic variables, disease characteristics and clinical features were retrieved and analyzed using the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 23.0. Results: This 20-year review revealed 162 cases. There was an increasing trend in the incidence with the highest number of cases seen in 2016 (26 patients). The age ranges from 31 to 90years with a mean of 61.0 + 10. 6years. The most common histology was endometrioid adenocarcinoma with 98(60.5%). Eighty-four (51.9%) patients presented with stage III disease, 46 (28.4%) with stage IV. All the patients presented with bleeding per vaginum, 73(45%) presented with low backache and vaginal discharge seen in 46(28.4%) patients. Conclusion: There was an increasing incidence over the years. More than three quarters presented with stage III or IV diseases. This suggests the need for a high index of suspicion for endometrial cancer especially in women with bleeding per vaginum

Pattern of prostate cancer among a Nigerian population: A study in a single tertiary care centre

Background: Prostate cancer has become a global health challenge because of its rising morbidity and mortality in males.It is the second cause of cancer death following lung cancer in men.It is rare under the age of 40 and its incidence has been shown to increase exponentially with age. Previously, Prostate cancer was thought to be a disease rare in blacks owing to the fact that not so much was known of the disease.Aim and objectives: The objective of the study was to review the prevalence, pattern of presentation and clinic-pathologic findings of prostate cancer in the Department of Radiotherapy,Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH),between January 2001 to December 2010 in comparison to previous and recent studies globally.Methodology: Data collection for all patients histologically diagnosed with Prostate cancer at the Department of Radiotherapy,LUTH,from 1st of January 2001 to 31st of December 2010 was done.Results: A total of 144 cases with histologically confirmed Prostate cancer seen during the ten year study were analysed.The highest frequency was seen in the year 2010 with 34 cases.The age range was 41 to 81years with a mean of 66.19 ±7.30years.Adenocarcinoma was the commonest histological type with 98.6%.9(6.3%) patients had a positive family history of prostate cancer out of which 3(33.3%) had their brother affected the malignancy. 51(35.4%) patients presented with stage IV disease.18(12.5%) patients had a Gleason's score of 6,10(6.9%) patients had a Gleason's score of 7 and 2(1.4%) patients had a Gleason's score of 10. The most common presenting complaints were bone pains seen in 51(35.4%) patients, frequent night urine and difficulty with micturition seen in 50(34.7%) and 42(29.2%) patients respectively.Conclusion: This study showed that prostate cancer is not as rare as it used to be.Reasons attributed to its rarity then were lack of awareness,poor screening facilities and poor diagnosing technique.Keywords: prostate cancer,presentation,tumour characteristics,Nigeri

The ‘evil arrow’ myths and misconceptions of cancer at Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Nigeria

Background: Myths and misconceptions have significant impact on the presentation and management of cancers globally. One such example includes ‘evil arrow’ myths. There is limited knowledge regarding the role of misconceptions in late presentation for management in developing countries. The percentage increase in cancers in many African countries is higher than that in developed countries. Evil arrow is the seeming attack of the enemy in a supernatural version as a result of wizardry. Aim: To evaluate the relationship of common myths and misconceptions among cancer patients, their treatment and delay of presentation to the hospital. Setting: The study was undertaken in a tertiary health facility in a cosmopolitan tropical state. Method: This is a randomised observational survey study carried out among patients and their relatives referred to the Radiotherapy Clinic of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital for treatment (a lower-income mixed metropolitan setting). A self-administered questionnaire was used. Patient consent was obtained. Data were analysed with Epi Info 2002 software and the results were presented using frequency tables and charts. Results: About 57 were patients (67%) and 28 were patients’ relatives (33%). The age distribution of participants showed 31–40 years (31.8%; 27) as the highest number, while 11–20 years (1.2%; 1) was the lowest number. A slight female preponderance of 58.8% (50) was observed. High incidence of those with the opinion that cause of cancer is unknown represented 63% (54). Over 65% of patients presented with advanced disease. The reasons for late presentation to the hospital included lack of funds in 23.5% of patients (20). Conclusion: Lack of funds, myths and misconception are main reasons why patients presented late to hospital. There is a need to emphasise debunking innumerable myths and misconceptions associated with cancer

GENERATION OF ELECTRICAL ENERGY VIA WIND ENERGY IN ILORIN: AN EXPLORATION OF A LOCALLY CONSTRUCTED WIND TURBINE

Wind energy is a renewable source of energy which has a definite place in the future of the generation of electricity. To harness the energy from the wind, a wind turbine is employed. Wind turbines assist in the production of power to compensate for the moderate intensity of the breeze to drive a generator. With the use of wind turbines, the energy in the wind can be converted into electrical energy. A small scale horizontal wind turbine was constructed with readily available and locally sourced materials. The height of the turbine was varied from 3 to 6 meters and two different locations in Ilorin, a tropical region, was used to observe how theturbine generates electricity via the wind turbine. The dam site, one of the locations, gives very high wind speed which in turn produces high open circuit voltage of around 4000 mV. Electrical energy generation from wind energy is observed to be largely dependent, not only on the electric motor used, but on the wind speed available for the turbine.&nbsp

Ergonomic risk assessment of maintenance job in a gas power station

Studija procjenjuje čimbenike ergonomskih rizika na poslovima održavanja plinske elektrane kapaciteta 8.4 MW (1.4 MW x 6 jedinica) u kojoj na održavanju radi 12 osoba. Čimbenici ergonomskih rizika mogu se podijeliti na one povezane sa zadatkom, te osobne i okolišne. Potencijalna ozbiljnost svih utvrđenih čimbenika rizika i vjerojatnost da se ostvare prikazana je na ljestvici 1-5. Indeks rizika izračunat je kao umnožak vjerojatnosti pojave rizika i potencijalne ozbiljnosti svih parametara rizika. Relativne težine parametara čimbenika rizika utvrđene su dijeljenjem svakog indeksa kumulativnog rizika s ukupnim indeksom kumulativnog rizika. Relativne težine čimbenika ergonomskih rizika utvrđene su dijeljenjem indeksa kumulativnih rizika svakog čimbenika s ukupnim indeksima kumulativnog rizika. Ukupan indeks rizika za svaki čimbenik izračunat je zbrajanjem umnoška relativnih težina i indeksa rizika parametara koji čine taj čimbenik. Indeks opasnosti na radu (WSI) utvrđen je zbrajanjem umnoška relativnih težina i indeksa rizika čimbenika ergonomskih čimbenika. Vrijednosti rizika kategorizirane su u tri razreda: nizak, srednji i visok rizik. Koristeći osobne i okolišne čimbenike, prosječne vrijednosti rizika iznosile su 3.03 ± 0.42 i 3.00 ± 0.00 iz čega proizlazi da je posao niskog rizika. Vrijednost indeksa opasnosti na radu (WSI) iznosila je 5.03 ± 1.62 što je pokazatelj da posao održavanja na način kako se obavlja u promatranoj elektrani predstavlja nizak rizik.This study conducted ergonomic risk factors assessment of maintenance job in a gas generating power station with a capacity of 8.4 MW (1.4 MW x 6 units) and 12 maintenance staff. The ergonomic risk factors present in the maintenance job were identified as task, personal and environmental. The potential severity of all the recognized risk factors and probability of occurrence were assessed on a scale of 1 to 5. The risk index was determined as the product of probability of occurrence and potential severity of all the risk parameters. The relative weights of the parameters of the risk factors were determined by dividing each cumulative risk index by the total cumulative risk index. The relative weights of the ergonomic risk factors were determined by dividing the cumulative risk index for each factor by the total of the cumulative risk indexes. The total risk index for each factor was calculated by summing up the product of the relative weights and the risk indexes of the parameters that make up the factor. The Work Severity Index (WSI) was determined by summing up the product of the relative weights and the risk indexes of the ergonomic risk factors. The risk values were categorized into three classes of low, medium and high risk. Using the personal and environmental factors, the average risk values were 3.03 ± 0.42 and 3.00 ± 0.00 respectively signifying that the job was a low risk one. The value of the average Work Severity Index was 5.03 ± 1. 62 which showed that the maintenance job as it was practised in the power station under study was of low risk

Masakhane-Afrisenti at SemEval-2023 Task 12: Sentiment Analysis using Afro-centric Language Models and Adapters for Low-resource African Languages

AfriSenti-SemEval Shared Task 12 of SemEval-2023. The task aims to perform monolingual sentiment classification (sub-task A) for 12 African languages, multilingual sentiment classification (sub-task B), and zero-shot sentiment classification (task C). For sub-task A, we conducted experiments using classical machine learning classifiers, Afro-centric language models, and language-specific models. For task B, we fine-tuned multilingual pre-trained language models that support many of the languages in the task. For task C, we used we make use of a parameter-efficient Adapter approach that leverages monolingual texts in the target language for effective zero-shot transfer. Our findings suggest that using pre-trained Afro-centric language models improves performance for low-resource African languages. We also ran experiments using adapters for zero-shot tasks, and the results suggest that we can obtain promising results by using adapters with a limited amount of resources.Comment: SemEval 202

Structure: Activity and Emerging Applications of Spices and Herbs

Herbs and spices are plant parts (herbs from leaves and spices from other parts) that are conventionally used in their fresh or dried state for flavouring, natural condiments, preservatives and for medicinal purposes. Worldwide, most spices are classified on the basis of taste, season of growth, economic importance, growth habit and plant part used. Black pepper, chilies, small cardamom, ginger and turmeric are some of the widely used spices while common herbs include thyme, basil and bay leaves. These herbs are basically classified according to usage, active constituents and period of life. Secondary metabolites such as Eugenol, thymol, limonene, cuminaldehyde, curcumin, piperine, quercetin, luteolin in these plant parts have been found to be responsible for anticancer, antimicrobial, antiviral, antidiabetic, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and hypocholesterolemic effects. Their application in water fortification, milk and cheese processing, production of beauty products and pesticides among others could not be underestimated. Finally, adulteration, toxicity and allergic reactions are some of the identified limitations and challenges often encountered in the use of herbs and spices

MasakhaNER 2.0: Africa-centric Transfer Learning for Named Entity Recognition

African languages are spoken by over a billion people, but are underrepresented in NLP research and development. The challenges impeding progress include the limited availability of annotated datasets, as well as a lack of understanding of the settings where current methods are effective. In this paper, we make progress towards solutions for these challenges, focusing on the task of named entity recognition (NER). We create the largest human-annotated NER dataset for 20 African languages, and we study the behavior of state-of-the-art cross-lingual transfer methods in an Africa-centric setting, demonstrating that the choice of source language significantly affects performance. We show that choosing the best transfer language improves zero-shot F1 scores by an average of 14 points across 20 languages compared to using English. Our results highlight the need for benchmark datasets and models that cover typologically-diverse African languages