Wandering spleen: A common presentation of an uncommon anomaly

Background: With the advent of real time ultrasonography of the abdomen, the spleen is no longer an inaccessible organ. Wandering spleen is a rare entity with only less than 500 cases reported so far. Method: This case report presents a 16-year- old Nigerian girl admitted in a medical centre but referred for ultrasonography on account of a clinical history of lower abdominal tenderness. Result: Ultrasonography examination revealed that the spleen was not found in its normal anatomical position. However, a well defined acoustic signature of the spleen was seen in the pelvis. Conclusion: Ultrasonography which is far cheaper than magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT) is a valuable diagnostic aid in this conditio

Anterior Abdominal Wall Desmoids Tumor in a Five Year Old Girl – A Pre Operative Diagnostic Challenge in Resource-Poor Setting

Desmoid tumors are rare, slow – growing, mesenchymal monoclinic proliferation. It may occur as intra-abdominal tumor usually affecting the mesentery of the intestine or it could be extra-abdominal in which they may affect the popliteal region, the chest wall or the anterior abdominal wall. Reports in children less than 10 years is rare. Here, we report a 5 year old girl with anterior abdominal wall desmoid that was managed in our unit and challenges at reaching a diagnosis are highlighted. Index Word: Desmoid tumor, Diagnosis, Pediatric age groups

Neovascular Glaucoma in a Nigerian African population

No Abstract.The East African Medical Journal Vol. 83 (10) 2006: pp. 559-56

Term quadruplet pregnancy: a case report

Higher order multiple pregnancies are rare and often associated with complications. Term delivery is uncommon. This is a report of a 22 years old G3 p2 + 0 (1 alive) teacher who had quadruplet pregnancy following ovulation induction is presented. She had elective caesarean section at term with the delivery of two live male and two live female infants with birth weights ranging between 1750gram and 2850grams. Term delivery in quadruplet pregnancy is possible as demonstrated in this case, and has the advantage of improved perinatal outcome. Bed rest early detection and management of antenatal complications, and planned elective delivery are probably the keys to a successful outcome

Paediatric discharges against medical advice at a tertiary health centre in Bayelsa State, Nigeria

Introduction: Paediatric discharges against medical advice (DAMA) are common hospital experiences which limit appropriate and comprehensive treatment as a result of abrupt termination of physician care. The fact remains that the children who are the major culprits of this practice are not legally able to participate in this decision making process which may negatively affect their health.Objectives: This present study was carried out with the aim of identifying the DAMA prevalence, the socio-cultural characteristics and reason(s) for DAMA among the paediatric patients admitted into the Niger Delta University Teaching Hospital, Bayelsa.Methods: Case notes of all children who had been discharged against medical advice over a 2 year period(1st of June 2011 to 31st of May 2013) were retrospectively reviewed and analysed.Results: One hundred and fortyone children out of a total of 1872 children admitted into the paediatric wards had been discharged against medical advice, giving a DAMA prevalence rate of 7.5%. Out of 120 children whose case notes were retrieved and analysed, there were69(57.5%) males and 51 (42.5%) females with a male: female ratio of 1.4:1. Neonatal septicaemia (32.6%), birth asphyxia (27.9%) and prematurity (14.0%) were the major diagnosis in neonates while respiratory tract infections (18.2%), severe malaria (15.6%) and septicaemia (14.3%) were the commonest diagnosis in older children who were DAMA. Discharges against medical advice occurred commonly in the first week of admission (69.0%) and among infants (58.0%). Majority of the patients were from low and middle social classes (85.8%) with 30% of the children belonging to families with 4 or more children. The commonest reasons for DAMA were financial constraints (36.7%), lack of clinical improvement (7.5%) and inconvenience of child’s admission (7.5%). Only 27% of the children’s clinical condition had been noted to have improved before DAMA and fathers were the signatories to the discharge documents in 68% of cases.Conclusions: Discharges against medical advice remain a serious public health problem with infants being the most vulnerable. Government provision of free child health services, improving access to health facilities through creation of better road network, better patient- physician relationship, child advocacy and female empowerment would help to ameliorate this problem.Keywords: Discharges against medical advice, child care, advocacy, Nigeria

Proposed Average Values of Some Engineering Properties of Palm Kernels

The need to know what values of engineering properties of palm kernels to use for rational design of handling and processing systems for palm kernels prompted a literature search for collation of published values. These values are presented in this work. And to manage the discrepancies observed among values published for same properties, the range of values are presented; and average values proposed for adoption in design problems pending the determination and establishment of standard values. The proposed average values include:  bulk density of 711kg/m3 and 589kg/m3 for dura or tenera and mixtures of dura, tenera, and pisifera varieties respectively; solid density of 1.17, 1.09, 1.10, and 1.14 g/cm3 for dura, tenera, pisifera, and their mixtures respectively; angle of repose of 33o, 32o, 29o, and 38o for dura, tenera, pisifera, and their mixtures respectively; compressive yield load of 492N and 374N for dura and tenera varieties respectively. Other proposed mean values include: sphericity of 76, 81, and 77% for dura/tenera, pisifera, and their mixtures respectively; geometric mean diameter of 12.56, 12.58, 8.84, and 13.06mm for dura, tenera, pisifera, and their mixtures respectively. The importance of determining and specifying the condition and history of experimental samples associated with published values is stressed. The need to develop or use existing standard methods and equipment for the determination of engineering properties of biological materials is recommended to reduce or limit the discrepancy among values being published for common properties

Suppurative Keratitis in a Nigerian Tertiary Hospital

Purpose: Microbial keratitis is a potentially vision threatening condition that requires prompt diagnosis and treatment to prevent untoward outcome. This study describes the demographic characteristics, clinical presentation, and microbiological features of patients diagnosed with suppurative keratitis between April 2005 and May 2006 in the University College Hospital lbadan, Nigeria. Methods: A retrospective review of case notes of patients who presented with suppurative keratitis between April 2005 and May 2006 was done. The outcome measures were: interval between onset and presentation, aetiology of keratitis, extent of corneal involvement and final visual acuity. Results: There were 23 (65.7%) males and 12 (34.3%) females. The mean age was 32.8±18.64. A positive history of trauma was present in 48% of patients. In 6% of the patients, the predisposing factor was severe allergic conjunctivitis. The presenting visual acuity was <6/60 in 66% of the patients, <6/18—6/60 in 14%, and 6/6-6/18 in 17% of the patients. At discharge, 40% had a visual acuity of 6/6-6/18, 15% had borderline vision (<6/18-6/60), 40% had severe visual impairment (<6/60), while 5% had no light perception. The most common organisms isolated microbiologically were Staphylococcus aureus in 28.6%, Streptococus pneumoniae in 8.6%, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa in 2.9%. The risk factors for poor visual outcome were late presentation, farming, stromal thinning and large corneal involvement. Conclusion: Bacteria is responsible for most cases of suppurative keratitis in a developing country like Nigeria and the risk for poor visual outcome includes late presentation, farming, stromal thinning and large corneal involvement.Key words: cornea, suppurative keratitis, visual outcom

Aqueous Leaf Extract Of Rothmannia Longiflora Improves Basal Metabolic Rate And Electrolyte Parameters In Alloxan Induced Diabetic Rats

Summary: This study evaluated the action of aqueous leaf extract of Rothmannia longiflora on basal metabolic rate and electrolyte profile of alloxan-induced diabetic rats. Fifteen male Wistar (135 – 140g) were assigned to 3 groups of 5 rats each. Group 1 which served as control received placebo treatment; Group 2 - the diabetic (untreated) group also received placebo treatment whereas Group 3 – the extract treated diabetic group was administered the extract (15g/kg body weight) by oral administration for 14 days. Results of BMR measurement showed a significant increase (

Millennium development goals: An assessment of awareness and perceptions of attainability by health workers in Owo, Nigeria

No Abstract

Tractability Conditions for Disc Ploughing on a Loamy Sand Soil in the Ilorin Agro-Ecological Zone

For agricultural field operations such as tillage and planting, an agricultural soil is considered tractable if it can develop adequate shear resistance to minimize tyre slip and soil damage and can produce required soil tilth without undue soil pulverization or the formation of large clods. Furthermore, the soil must be devoid of physical obstructions like stones, stumps, ant-hills, etc and be of a light vegetative cover. Tractability conditions for disc ploughing on a loamy sand soil based on soil moisture have been determined for Ilorin agro-ecological zone, which fall within the Guinea Savannah zone of Nigeria. This was achieved by carrying out disc ploughing on an experimental plot at thirteen different soil moisture levels ranging from 8.90 to 91.74% of field capacity. The tyre slip and wheel sinkage measured at each soil moisture level, were used to judge whether the soil was tractable or not. Soil is adjudged tractable if the observed tyre slip is either 15% or less. The corresponding soil moisture range was selected as the soil moisture condition at which the soil is tractable. It was found that the loamy sand soil of Ilorin agro- ecological zone was tractable between soil moisture levels of 8.90 and 60.08% of field capacity. Results showed that differences in soil moisture distribution along the slope of the land had no significant (P< 0.05) effect on the towing force and the drawbar pull of the tractor. However, differences in soil moisture levels had significant effect on them. Furthermore, data such as towing force, drawbar pull, soil cone index and tyre slip generated and analyzed using regression analysis, were used to establish empirical trafficability prediction equations; which are useful in studies of soil-machine interactions