Determinants of Adolescent Reproductive Health Problems in Awka South Local Government Area South East Nigeria: Implication for Counselling

The study tried to find out the determinants of adolescent reproductive healthproblems in Awka South Local Government Area of Nigeria. The descriptivesurvey research design was used for the study. Four research questionsguided the study. A total of two hundred and fourteen adolescent whoattended antenatal clinic from January – June 2007 were used for the study.Questionnaire was the main instrument for data collection. The descriptivestatistics of mean was use to analyze the data with a criterion mean at 2.50.The result revealed that sexual transmitted diseases, hypertensive diseases,hemorrhage, and anaemia were determinants of reproductive healthproblems among adolescents. Based on the findings, the researchers madesome recommendations and counselling implication

Promoting and Protecting the Sexual and Reproductive Health of Adolescents in Anambra State South East Nigeria: Implications for Counseling

Sexuality activity during adolescence puts adolescents at risk of sexual andreproductive health problems. Hence, this study was undertaken to determinethe factors that contribute to adolescent reproductive health problem andwhat to be done to promote and protect the sexual and reproductive health ofadolescents. Two research questions and one null hypothesis guided thestudy. Study sample consisted of all 144 practicing school counsellors inAnambra State. The instrument used for data collection was constructed bythe researchers. The data collected were analyzed using means to answerresearch questions while the hypothesis was tested using t-test statistics at0.05 level of significance. The results indicated no significant difference onthe respondents’ mean ratings of male and female counsellors on what to bedone to promote and protect the sexual and reproductive health ofadolescents. Recommendations include that counsellors should provideadolescents with age-appropriate sexual and reproductive healthinformation, empowers them to make responsible decisions regardingsexuality

Counselling for Facilitating Learning for the Attention – Deficit/Hyperactivity Disordered

The study investigated the extent of counsellor’s identification of thesymptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and the counselling strategies the counsellors use to facilitate learning for such learners. Two research questions and two hypotheses guided the study. The design of the study was survey. The area of the study is Anambra State. No sampling was done. 703 counsellors constitute the population of the study. The instrument for data collection was a questionnaire developed by the researchers. The instrument with two clusters was validated and reliability co-efficient of 0.86 and 0.92 were calculated using test re-test. Mean scores were used to answer the research questions while t-test was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05level of significance. The findings revealed that counsellors could not identify some of the symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and they do not use some counselling strategies for facilitating learning for the attention deficit/hyperactivity disordered. Also there was no significance different between the mean responses of male and female counsellors on the strategies for facilitating learning. Based on the findings, recommendations were made

Effect of cognitive restructuring on junior secondary school mathematics text anxiety in Oshimili south of L.G.A of Delta State

The study investigated the effect of cognitive restructuring on junior secondary school mathematics test anxiety in Oshimili south L.G.A of Delta State. Two research questions and two hypotheses tested at 0.05 level of significance guided the study. Quasi-experimental research design was adopted for this study. The population for this study was a total of 1224 students. These comprised of all the JSS 2 students from Oshimili South Local Government Area of Delta State. Research sample consisted of 120 JSS 2 students with high level of mathematics test anxiety selected through purposive sampling technique. The instrument adopted for this study was Maths anxiety rating scale-R. Data collected from the study were analyzed using mean and ANCOVA. Results obtained from the study indicated that Cognitive restructuring therapy (CRT) was effective on mathematics test anxiety of junior secondary school students. The results equally showed that Cognitive restructuring therapy was more effective on the female students’ mathematics anxiety than their male counterparts. Furthermore, the results indicated a significant difference in the post-test mathematics test anxiety mean scores of students treated with CRT and those in the control group. Also, there was significant difference in the post-test mathematics test anxiety mean scores of male and female students treated with CRT. Based on the findings of this study, some recommendations were noted. The researcher recommended, among others that Schools’ Guidance Counselors should be empowered to make good use of the cognitive restructuring technique, in counseling students who find it difficult to comprehend mathematics skills

Multiple novel prostate cancer susceptibility signals identified by fine-mapping of known risk loci among Europeans

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified numerous common prostate cancer (PrCa) susceptibility loci. We have fine-mapped 64 GWAS regions known at the conclusion of the iCOGS study using large-scale genotyping and imputation in 25 723 PrCa cases and 26 274 controls of European ancestry. We detected evidence for multiple independent signals at 16 regions, 12 of which contained additional newly identified significant associations. A single signal comprising a spectrum of correlated variation was observed at 39 regions; 35 of which are now described by a novel more significantly associated lead SNP, while the originally reported variant remained as the lead SNP only in 4 regions. We also confirmed two association signals in Europeans that had been previously reported only in East-Asian GWAS. Based on statistical evidence and linkage disequilibrium (LD) structure, we have curated and narrowed down the list of the most likely candidate causal variants for each region. Functional annotation using data from ENCODE filtered for PrCa cell lines and eQTL analysis demonstrated significant enrichment for overlap with bio-features within this set. By incorporating the novel risk variants identified here alongside the refined data for existing association signals, we estimate that these loci now explain ∼38.9% of the familial relative risk of PrCa, an 8.9% improvement over the previously reported GWAS tag SNPs. This suggests that a significant fraction of the heritability of PrCa may have been hidden during the discovery phase of GWAS, in particular due to the presence of multiple independent signals within the same regio

Literacy strategies for facilitating learning for the attention-deficit/hyperactivity disordered

No Abstract.Ghana Journal of Development Studies Vol. 5 (2) 2008: pp. 82-8

Potential risks associated with the use of ionizing radiation for imaging and treatment of colorectal cancer in Lynch syndrome patients

The aim of this review is to investigate the literature pertaining to the potential risks of low-dose ionizing radiation to Lynch syndrome patients by use of computed tomography (CT), either diagnostic CT colonography (CTC), standard staging CT or CT surveillance. Furthermore, this review explores the potential risks of using radiotherapy for treatment of rectal cancer in these patients. No data or longitudinal observational studies of the impact of radiation exposure on humans with Lynch syndrome were identified. Limited experimental studies utilizing cell lines and primary cells exposed to both low and high radiation doses have been carried out to help determine radio-sensitivity associated with DNA mismatch repair gene deficiency, the defining feature of Lynch syndrome. On balance, these studies suggest that mismatch repair deficient cells may be relatively radio-resistant (particularly for low dose rate exposures) with higher mutation rates, albeit no firm conclusions can be drawn. Mouse model studies, though, showed an increased risk of developing colorectal tumors in mismatch repair deficient mice exposed to radiation doses around 2 Gy. With appropriate ethical approval, further studies investigating radiation risks associated with CT imaging and radiotherapy relevant doses using cells/tissues derived from confirmed Lynch patients or genetically modified animal models are urgently required for future clinical guidance