Social Media and Academic Achievement in the Ibarapa Polytechnic, Eruwa, Oyo State

Social media is rapidly changing the communication setting of today’s social world. The emergent of social media is significantly influencing the academic life of students. This study therefore examines the effect of social media on academic achievement of students in the Ibarapa Polytechnic Eruwa, Oyo State. The rationale behind the study is to find out whether the exposure of the students to social media has effect on their academic achievement. The population consists of all the 5,446 full and Part time undergraduate students in the institution. Simple random sampling technique was used to select a sample of 816 students. A survey research method was adopted employing five point Likert Type Rating Scale Questionnaire type, titled: Social Media and Academic Achievement of Students Questionnaire (SMAA) to collect data from the participants. The findings showed that undergraduate students of the Ibarapa Polytechnic, Eruwa, Oyo State, have access to and that their exposure to social media is to a very great extent. Findings also showed that social media has significant effect on the academic achievement of students in the institution. The results indicated that there exists a positive correlation between social media and academic achievement(r=0.576 P<.05) which were found to be statistically significant at 5% level of significance. The paper recommends that students should pay minimal attention to social media and focus more on their academic activities in order to improve their academic performance. Keywords: Social Media, Academic Achievement, Technology, Social Network, Networking Sites, Students

Seasonal variation in mortality secondary to acute myocardial infarction in England and Wales: a secondary data analysis.

BACKGROUND: Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is a leading cause of death globally. Increase in AMI mortality during winter has also been identified in existing literature. This has been associated with low outdoor and indoor temperatures and increasing age. The relationship between AMI and other factors such as gender and socioeconomic factors varies from study to study. Influenza epidemics have also been identified as a contributory factor. OBJECTIVE: This paper aims to illustrate the seasonal trend in mortality due to AMI in England and Wales with emphasis on excess winter mortality (EWM). METHODS: Monthly mortality rates per 10 000 population were calculated from data provided by the UK Office for National Statistics (ONS) for 1997-2005. To quantify the seasonal variation in winter, the EWM estimates (EWM, EWM ratio, Excess Winter Mortality Index) for each year were calculated. Negative binomial regression model was used to estimate the relationship between increasing age and EWM. RESULTS: The decline in mortality rate for AMI was 6.8% yearly between August 1997 and July 2005. Significant trend for reduction in AMI-associated mortality was observed over the period (p<0.001). This decline was not seen with EWM (p<0.001). 17% excess deaths were observed during winter. This amounted to about 20 000 deaths over the 8-year period. Increasing winter mortality was seen with increasing age for AMI. CONCLUSION: EWM secondary to AMI does occur in England and Wales. Excess winter deaths due to AMI have remained high despite decline in overall mortality. More research is needed to identify the relationship of sex, temperature, acclimatisation, vitamin D and excess winter deaths due to AMI

Tuberculosis infection control measures in health care facilities offering tb services in Ikeja local government area, Lagos, South West, Nigeria

BACKGROUND: Tuberculosis infection among health care workers is capable of worsening the existing health human resource problems of low - and middle-income countries. Tuberculosis infection control is often weakly implemented in these parts of the world therefore, understanding the reasons for poor implementation of tuberculosis infection control guidelines are important. This study was aimed at assessing tuberculosis infection control practices and barriers to its implementation in Ikeja, Nigeria. METHODS: A cross-sectional study in 20 tuberculosis care facilities (16 public and 4 private) in Ikeja, Lagos was conducted. The study included a facility survey to assess the availability of tuberculosis infection control guidelines, the adequacy of facilities to prevent transmission of tuberculosis and observations of practices to assess the implementation of tuberculosis infection control guidelines. Four focus group discussions were carried out to highlight HCWs’ perceptions on tuberculosis infection control guidelines and barriers to its implementation. RESULTS: The observational study showed that none of the clinics had a tuberculosis infection control plan. No clinic was consistently screening patients for cough. Twelve facilities (60 %) consistently provided masks to patients who were coughing. Ventilation in the waiting areas was assessed to be adequate in 60 % of the clinics while four clinics (20 %) possessed N-95 respirators. Findings from the focus group discussions showed weak managerial support, poor funding, under-staffing, lack of space and not wanting to be seen as stigmatizing against tuberculosis patients as barriers that hindered the implementation of TB infection control measures. CONCLUSION: Tuberculosis infection control measures were not adequately implemented in health facilities in Ikeja, Nigeria. A multi-pronged approach is required to address the identified barriers to the implementation of tuberculosis infection control guidelines

Estimating the burden of selected non-communicable diseases in Africa: a systematic review of the evidence

Background The burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) is rapidly increasing globally, and particularly in Africa, where the health focus, until recently, has been on infectious diseases. The response to this growing burden of NCDs in Africa has been affected owing to a poor understanding of the burden of NCDs, and the relative lack of data and low level of research on NCDs in the continent. Recent estimates on the burden of NCDs in Africa have been mostly derived from modelling based on data from other countries imputed into African countries, and not usually based on data originating from Africa itself. In instances where few data were available, estimates have been characterized by extrapolation and over-modelling of the scarce data. It is therefore believed that underestimation of NCDs burden in many parts of Africa cannot be unexpected. With a gradual increase in average life expectancy across Africa, the region now experiencing the fastest rate of urbanization globally, and an increase adoption of unhealthy lifestyles, the burden of NCDs is expected to rise. This thesis will, therefore, be focussing on understanding the prevalence, and/or where there are available data, the incidence, of four major NCDs in Africa, which have contributed highly to the burden of NCDs, not only in Africa, but also globally. Methods I conducted a systematic search of the literature on three main databases (Medline, EMBASE and Global Health) for epidemiological studies on NCDs conducted in Africa. I retained and extracted data from original population-based (cohort or cross sectional), and/or health service records (hospital or registry-based studies) on prevalence and/or incidence rates of four major NCDs in Africa. These include: cardiovascular diseases (hypertension and stroke), diabetes, major cancer types (cervical, breast, prostate, ovary, oesophagus, bladder, Kaposi, liver, stomach, colorectal, lung and non-Hodgkin lymphoma), and chronic respiratory diseases (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma). From extracted crude prevalence and incidence rates, a random effect meta-analysis was conducted and reported for each NCD. An epidemiological model was applied on all extracted data points. The fitted curve explaining the largest proportion of variance (best fit) from the model was further applied. The equation generated from the fitted curve was used to determine the prevalence and cases of the specific NCD in Africa at midpoints of the United Nations (UN) population 5-year age-group population estimates for Africa. Results From the literature search, studies on hypertension had the highest publication output at 7680, 92 of which were selected, spreading across 31 African countries. Cancer had 9762 publications and 39 were selected across 20 countries; diabetes had 3701 publications and 48 were selected across 28 countries; stroke had 1227 publications and 19 were selected across 10 countries; asthma had 790 publications and 45 were selected across 24 countries; and COPD had the lowest output with 243 publications and 13 were selected across 8 countries. From studies reporting prevalence rates, hypertension, with a total sample size of 197734, accounted for 130.2 million cases and a prevalence of 25.9% (23.5, 34.0) in Africa in 2010. This is followed by asthma, with a sample size of 187904, accounting for 58.2 million cases and a prevalence of 6.6% (2.4, 7.9); COPD, with a sample size of 24747, accounting for 26.3 million cases and a prevalence of 13.4% (9.4, 22.1); diabetes, with a sample size of 102517, accounting for 24.5 million cases and a prevalence of 4.0% (2.7, 6.4); and stroke, with a sample size of about 6.3 million, accounting for 1.94 million cases and a prevalence of 317.3 per 100000 population (314.0, 748.2). From studies reporting incidence rates, stroke accounted for 496 thousand new cases in Africa in 2010, with a prevalence of 81.3 per 100000 person years (13.2, 94.9). For the 12 cancer types reviewed, a total of 775 thousand new cases were estimated in Africa in 2010 from registry-based data covering a total population of about 33 million. Among women, cervical cancer and breast cancer had 129 thousand and 81 thousand new cases, with incidence rates of 28.2 (22.1, 34.3) and 17.7 (13.0, 22.4) per 100000 person years, respectively. Among men, prostate cancer and Kaposi sarcoma closely follows with 75 thousand and 74 thousand new cases, with incidence rates of 14.5 (10.9, 18.0) and 14.3 (11.9, 16.7) per 100000 person years, respectively. Conclusion This study suggests the prevalence rates of the four major NCDs reviewed (cardiovascular diseases (hypertension and stroke), diabetes, major cancer types, and chronic respiratory diseases (COPD and asthma) in Africa are high relative to global estimates. Due to the lack of data on many NCDs across the continent, there are still doubts on the true prevalence of these diseases relative to the current African population. There is need for improvement in health information system and overall data management, especially at country level in Africa. Governments of African nations, international organizations, experts and other stakeholders need to invest more on NCDs research, particularly mortality, risk factors, and health determinants to have evidenced-based facts on the drivers of this epidemic in the continent, and prompt better, effective and overall public health response to NCDs in Africa

The evolving SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in Africa: Insights from rapidly expanding genomic surveillance

INTRODUCTION Investment in Africa over the past year with regard to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) sequencing has led to a massive increase in the number of sequences, which, to date, exceeds 100,000 sequences generated to track the pandemic on the continent. These sequences have profoundly affected how public health officials in Africa have navigated the COVID-19 pandemic. RATIONALE We demonstrate how the first 100,000 SARS-CoV-2 sequences from Africa have helped monitor the epidemic on the continent, how genomic surveillance expanded over the course of the pandemic, and how we adapted our sequencing methods to deal with an evolving virus. Finally, we also examine how viral lineages have spread across the continent in a phylogeographic framework to gain insights into the underlying temporal and spatial transmission dynamics for several variants of concern (VOCs). RESULTS Our results indicate that the number of countries in Africa that can sequence the virus within their own borders is growing and that this is coupled with a shorter turnaround time from the time of sampling to sequence submission. Ongoing evolution necessitated the continual updating of primer sets, and, as a result, eight primer sets were designed in tandem with viral evolution and used to ensure effective sequencing of the virus. The pandemic unfolded through multiple waves of infection that were each driven by distinct genetic lineages, with B.1-like ancestral strains associated with the first pandemic wave of infections in 2020. Successive waves on the continent were fueled by different VOCs, with Alpha and Beta cocirculating in distinct spatial patterns during the second wave and Delta and Omicron affecting the whole continent during the third and fourth waves, respectively. Phylogeographic reconstruction points toward distinct differences in viral importation and exportation patterns associated with the Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Omicron variants and subvariants, when considering both Africa versus the rest of the world and viral dissemination within the continent. Our epidemiological and phylogenetic inferences therefore underscore the heterogeneous nature of the pandemic on the continent and highlight key insights and challenges, for instance, recognizing the limitations of low testing proportions. We also highlight the early warning capacity that genomic surveillance in Africa has had for the rest of the world with the detection of new lineages and variants, the most recent being the characterization of various Omicron subvariants. CONCLUSION Sustained investment for diagnostics and genomic surveillance in Africa is needed as the virus continues to evolve. This is important not only to help combat SARS-CoV-2 on the continent but also because it can be used as a platform to help address the many emerging and reemerging infectious disease threats in Africa. In particular, capacity building for local sequencing within countries or within the continent should be prioritized because this is generally associated with shorter turnaround times, providing the most benefit to local public health authorities tasked with pandemic response and mitigation and allowing for the fastest reaction to localized outbreaks. These investments are crucial for pandemic preparedness and response and will serve the health of the continent well into the 21st century

The evolving SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in Africa: Insights from rapidly expanding genomic surveillance.

Investment in severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) sequencing in Africa over the past year has led to a major increase in the number of sequences that have been generated and used to track the pandemic on the continent, a number that now exceeds 100,000 genomes. Our results show an increase in the number of African countries that are able to sequence domestically and highlight that local sequencing enables faster turnaround times and more-regular routine surveillance. Despite limitations of low testing proportions, findings from this genomic surveillance study underscore the heterogeneous nature of the pandemic and illuminate the distinct dispersal dynamics of variants of concern-particularly Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Omicron-on the continent. Sustained investment for diagnostics and genomic surveillance in Africa is needed as the virus continues to evolve while the continent faces many emerging and reemerging infectious disease threats. These investments are crucial for pandemic preparedness and response and will serve the health of the continent well into the 21st century

On the pathway to better birth outcomes? A systematic review of azithromycin and curable sexually transmitted infections.

The WHO recommends the administration of sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) to all pregnant women living in areas of moderate (stable) to high malaria transmission during scheduled antenatal visits, beginning in the second trimester and continuing to delivery. Malaria parasites have lost sensitivity to SP in many endemic areas, prompting the investigation of alternatives that include azithromycin-based combination (ABC) therapies. Use of ABC therapies may also confer protection against curable sexually transmitted infections and reproductive tract infections (STIs/RTIs). The magnitude of protection at the population level would depend on the efficacy of the azithromycin-based regimen used and the underlying prevalence of curable STIs/RTIs among pregnant women who receive preventive treatment. This systematic review summarizes the efficacy data of azithromycin against curable STIs/RTIs

Sequence Type ST131 and ST10 Complex (ST617) predominant among CTX-M-15-producing Escherichia coli isolates from Nigeria* *This study has been partially presented during the 51st Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC) in Chicago, IL, September 2011.

AbstractOf 109 clinical Escherichia coli isolates from two major tertiary hospitals in Lagos (University Teaching Hospital and the National Orthopaedic Hospital Igbobi), 14 (12.8%) extended-spectrum beta-lactamse (ESBL) producers were characterized using PCR and sequencing, ERIC-PCR and multilocus sequence typing. All ESBL-producing isolates encoded only the CTX-M-15 gene. Clonal group ST131 (35.7%) was the predominant ST, followed by ST617 (28.6%). Isolated cases of other sequence types were also observed. Plasmid-mediated quinolone resistance genes qnrA, qnrB1 and aac-(6′)-lb-cr were detected among these ESBL isolates of different clonal groups. This is the first description of the clonality of CTX-M-15-producing E. coli from Nigeria. The presence of diverse clonal lineages shows the continuing potential for genetic diversification and emergence of new epidemic strains