68 research outputs found
Pattern of anaemia and its correlates in Nigerians with heart failure
Background: Heart failure often coexists with many comorbidities, including anaemia. However, the pattern of anaemia in heart failure and its clinical and echocardiographic associations have not been adequately studied among Nigerians.
Objective: To describe the pattern of anaemia, its clinical characteristics, and its echocardiographic associations among heart failure subjects in Nigeria
Methods: One hundred and forty subjects with heart failure were recruited from the cardiology clinics of two teaching hospitals in southwest Nigeria: Ladoke Akintola University of Technology and Bowen University Teaching Hospitals, Ogbomoso. Complete blood analyses, among other tests, were done. Statistical analysis was done with Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) 20.0. P <0.05 was taken as statistically significant.
Result: Anaemia, as defined by the World Health Organisation, occurred in 106 (75.7%) of the heart failure patients. The patterns of anaemia among participants include combined anaemia of chronic diseases (ACD) with iron deficiency in 64 (45.7%) patients, and ACD alone in 40 (28.6%). Anaemia was more significantly associated with previous diagnosis of diabetes mellitus, presence of pulmonary hypertension, and heart failure with reduced ejection fraction. Mean systolic and diastolic blood pressures, ejection fraction, andfractional shortening were significantly lower among heart failure subjects with anaemia, while serum creatinine, left atrial dimension, left ventricular end diastolic dimension, and left ventricular mass index were significantly higher among heart failure subjects with anaemia compared to those without anaemia.
Conclusion: Anaemia occurs very frequently among heart failure patients in southwest Nigeria. It is associated with many poor prognostic factors, including diabetes mellitus, pulmonary hypertension, and kidney failure.
Keywords: Anaemia, Heart failure, Left ventricular geometry, Nigeria, Echocardiography
Negative appendicectomy rates in adolescent girls compared with boys: The role of ultrasound and serum inflammatory markers
Background Adolescent girls are frequently seen with more differentials for abdominal pain than boys. We aim to determine if this infers that a negative appendectomy (NA) is more likely in girls, and if the use of ultrasonography(USS) and inflammatory markers reduce the likelihood of a NA.Participants and methods Over a 17-year period, we reviewed the histology of appendix specimens removed nonincidentally from adolescents aged 12–16 years. Specimens with normal histology were grouped as NAs. The preoperative white cell count, C-reactive protein and USS were analysed.Results Data were available for 430 boys and 273 girls. The overall NA rate was 9.1%, with 7.2 and 12.1% in boys and girls, respectively. This represented an increased odds of a NA in girls [odds ratio (OR): 1.77, 95% confidence interval (95% CI): 1.06–2.96; P = 0.030]. When the variance in the preoperative use of USS and inflammatory markers was accounted for, the new odds of a NA in girls compared with boys were now not significantly increased (OR: 2.27, 95% CI:0.09–60.64; P = 0.624). USS did not significantly reduced the odds of a NA (OR: 0.98, 95% CI: 0.48–2.02; P=0.960). There were significantly increased odds of a NA in adolescents with normal white cell count and C-reactive protein (OR: 15.84, 95% CI: 2.12–118.50; P = 0.007).Conclusion Adolescent girls are more likely to undergo a NA. When inflammatory markers are elevated, this increased likelihood of a NA is not seen in girls, but rather reduced odds of a NA are seen in both girls and boys. adolescents, boys, girls, inflammatory markers, negative appendicectomy, ultrasonographyKeywords: adolescents, boys, girls, inflammatory markers, negative appendicectomy, ultrasonograph
Hypereosinophilic syndrome with severe hypokalaemia in a Nigerian woman: A case report
Introduction: Hypereosinophilic syndrome (HES) is a rare disorder.It is defined as eosinophilia of greater than1.5x109 /L persisting for at least 6 months or death before 6 months without an identifiable cause and with eosinophil-mediated organ dysfunction.We present a rare case of hypereosinophilic syndrome with severe hypokalaemia in a Nigerian female patient.Case presentation: A 43year old food vendor referred to the Haematology Department, University College Hospital, Ibadan on account of a 6-week history of cough productive of mucoid, brownish, foul smelling sputum with associated breathlessness, high grade intermittent fever,and intense pruritus. She had accompanying non-projectile,non-bloody vomiting of recently ingested meals.There was absolute eosinophilia of 83x109/L and bone marrow cytology revealed marked eosinophilia with blasts of less than 5%. She also had asymptomatic severe hypokalaemia (1.9mmol/l) likely due to vomiting and reduced dietary intake.The aetiology of the hypereosinophilia could not be ascertained.She was admitted and commenced on intranasal oxygen,Tabs Loratidine, intravenous hydration.The severe hypokalaemia was corrected with IV KCL over 48hours followed with the administration of slow K tablets 600mg tds. She also had tabs Hydroxyurea for cytoreduction and Allopurinol to prevent hyperuricaemia.She improved with the above line of management.Conclusion: This appears to be the first reported case of HES with asymptomatic severe hypokalaemia in the literature. Being a rare disorder it could easily have been missed without a review of the peripheral blood film and marrow aspirate. This finding suggests a possible relationship between hypereosinophilia and hypokalemia which needs to be explored.Keywords: Hypereosinophilic syndrome, Eosinophilia, Bone marrow cytology, Hypokalemia, Hydroxyurea, Loratidin
Multiple myeloma with unexplained isolated anaemia in a 24year old man- a case report
Background: Multiple myeloma (MM) is a disease of the elderly with a median age at presentation of 70 years. It is rare to diagnose MM in individuals less than 40 years and even extremely rare in those less than 30 years of age. MM is usually suspected in those aged 50 years and above having a combination of hypercalcemia, renal insufficiency, anaemia and bone lesions. Although anaemia is a common clinical feature of MM, it is very rare that anaemia would be the only clinical presentation, hence the need to report this index case.
Case Presentation: We present a rare case of MM in a 24-year- old male who presented with only symptomatic anaemia.Investigations for the cause of anaemia, including Bone marrow aspiration cytology revealed a diagnosis of MM ISS stage II.Here, we highlighted the need to seek early haematologist consultation in investigating patients’ whose cause of anaemia is notimmediately obvious from the clinical presentation and routine laboratory investigations.
Conclusion: MM can present at a younger age with unexplained anaemia without bone pains or renal insufficiency. High level of suspicion for MM is required in young patients with unexplained anaemia
Keywords: Multiple myeloma; isolated anaemia; young patient
Valorization of cocoa processing waste bioresource in biofuel production: A mini review
Food-related waste is produced in large quantities every year throughout the world. Cocoa industrial wastes, in particular, constitute an important source of useable biomass for the development of fresh items like food, farm animal feed, beauty products, and chemical substances, as well as the production of biofuels. Cocoa pod shells, bean shells, and mucilage are among the cocoa industrial wastes that include compounds of relevance to many businesses. However, because of these by-products’ lignocellulose content, which necessitates pretreatment to effectively employ them, depending on the conversion technique utilized to get the best biomass yield, different kinds of renewable energy can be produced. Modern research has demonstrated that solid, gaseous, and liquid biofuels may be produced from industrial waste from cocoa. All the same, the most prevalent use documented is as a direct combustion source for powering the same production plants. As a result, the goal of this project is to conduct a review of biodiesel synthesis utilizing cocoa pods as a catalyst as well as the technological concept used for the transformation. Emerging trends also show how important it is to use predictive methods to improve system parameters and to use enzyme catalysis in manufacturing to speed up chemical reactions
COMPARATIVES STUDY ON THE EFFECT OF WET AND DRY SUBSTRATES ON BIOGAS YIELD
The objective of this study is to compare the use ofwetanddry wastes as substrates for anaerobic digestion and its effect on biogas yield.Different quantities of substrates and co-substrates (wet and dried) were weighed and mixed vigorously with corresponding quantity of distilled water to form the fermentation slurry in the digesters; the digesters were operated at 45°C in batch anaerobic digesters for 25 days. The results showed that the average volume of biogas obtained from the dried animal wastes co-digested with dried fruit wastes and wet animal wastes co-digested with wet fruit wastes was found to be 0.2928 kg and 0.0972 kg per day respectively. When the fermentation process was performed with dried animal wastes only and wet animal wastes only the value of the average volume of biogas obtained were calculated to be 0.1508 and 0.0892 kg per day respectively. Thus biogas yield using dried substrates comparatively gave a better biogas yield than wet substrates. In conclusion, the use of dried wastes for biogas production suggests superior energy recovery, saving resources and engineering investment as compared to the use of wet wastes as substrates
Patterns of coagulation profiles observed in different trimesters of pregnancy
Background: The risk of venous thromboembolic events (VTE) is high during pregnancy due to both physiologic changes in pregnancy and the impact of inherited and acquired thrombophilia. Protein S (PS), Protein C (PC) and Antithrombin III (ATIII) deficiencies have been found in some pregnant women with recurrent miscarriages and sudden maternal death. This study aimed to determine the changes in the level of plasma protein C, protein S and antithrombin III levels, its correlation with normal pregnancy.
Methods: The study was a comparative cross-sectional study conducted among seventy-five normal pregnant women who were selected using a simple random sampling technique with seventy-five age-matched healthy nonpregnant women. Blood samples were collected for analysis of protein C, protein S and antithrombin III using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method. A semi-structured questionnaire was used as the survey instrument and Statistical analysis of data was done using SPSS version 24.
Results: The mean ages of the respondents were 32.6±4.6 and 34.5±6.9 years for the subjects and controls respectively. Natural coagulation inhibitors (NCI) show a gradual decrease across the trimesters of pregnancy. There was a statistical significance in the level of antithrombin III and protein S in the first trimester, p<0.05. When compared with the control of protein S of 4.78±0.65 ng/ml and antithrombin III of 554.16±54.65 ng/mL respectively.
Conclusions: It was demonstrated that there was an accompanying reduction of NCI across the trimester compared with the controls. Antithrombin III and protein S have a significant relationship with the gestation periods. Antithrombin III decreased as pregnancy advanced while protein S decreased significantly from the first trimester to the second trimester and was maintained at that level throughout the pregnancy
Recikliranje ekspandiranog polistirena kao uÄŤinkovitog adsorbensa naftalena iz vodene otopine
Batch adsorption process factors [contact time (20–150 min), adsorbent dosage (0.5–1.5 g), adsorbate concentration (5–30 mg l–1), and agitation rate (100–250 rpm)] were optimised based on D-optimal Design under the Response Surface Methodology (RSM) of the Design-Expert Software (7.6.8) for the removal of naphthalene from aqueous solution using adsorbent developed from Acetylated Waste Expanded Polystyrene (AWEPs). The maximum adsorption capacity (5.6608 mg g–1) achieved was well fitted to Dubinin-Radushkevich Isotherm (R2 = 0.9949). The SSE (< 0.05) and ARE (< 4.0 %) indicated pseudo-second-order as the most suitable model. This research has demonstrated the effectiveness of the WEPs for the removal of naphthalene from the aqueous solution.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.Šaržni faktori procesa adsorpcije [vrijeme kontakta (20 – 150 min), doziranje adsorbenta (0,5 – 1,5 g), koncentracija adsorbata (5–30 mg l–1) i brzina miješanja (100–250 min–1)] optimizirani su na temelju D-optimalnog dizajna primjenom metodologije odzivne površine (RSM) programa Design-Expert (7.6.8) za uklanjanje naftalena iz vodene otopine pomoću adsorbenta razvijenog iz acetiliranog otpadnog ekspandiranog polistirena (AWEP). Ostvareni maksimalni adsorpcijski kapacitet (5,6608 mg g–1) dobro je prilagođen izotermi Dubinin-Radushkevich (R2 = 0,9949). SSE (< 0,05) i ARE (< 4,0 %) označili su pseudo-drugi red kao najprikladniji model. Ovo istraživanje pokazalo je učinkovitost WEP-a za uklanjanje naftalena iz vodene otopine.
Ovo djelo je dano na korištenje pod licencom Creative Commons Imenovanje 4.0 međunarodna
Enhancing and upgrading biogas and biomethane production in anaerobic digestion: a comprehensive review
Anaerobic digestion (AD) processes can face operational challenges or flaws such as substrate structure and characteristics complexity, process complexity, low productivity, inefficient biodegradability, and poor stability, which suppresses or reduces biogas and biomethane production. As a result of the need to overcome these challenges/shortcomings and improve or enhance biogas and biomethane yield, process intensification methods have gained attention. There is some literature review on pretreatment and co-digestion as a means of improving AD performance; however, there is no systematic information on the various strategies required for improving AD performance and, in turn, increasing biogas/biomethane yield. The AD process produces biogas, a valuable renewable biofuel. Biogas is composed primarily of biomethane and other undesirable components such as carbon dioxide, oxygen, hydrogen sulphide, water vapour, ammonia, siloxanes, nitrogen, hydrocarbons, and carbon monoxide, which act as impurities or contaminants and tend to reduce the biogas specific calorific value while also causing various problems with machine operation. As a result, various technologies are used to improve raw biogas quality by removing contaminants during biogas transformation to biomethane. As a result, this paper provides a comprehensive review of the various systematic process intensification strategies used to overcome AD process challenges/shortfalls, improve or enhance biogas and biomethane production, and conventional and emerging or advanced technologies for biogas purification, cleaning, and upgrading
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