Dose-response relationship between alcohol use and blood pressure among drivers of commercial vehicles in Calabar, Southern Nigeria

Alcohol is a sedative/hypnotic with effects similar to those of barbiturates.1 The type of alcoholic beverages consumed depends on the social context and financial capability. Alcoholic beverages may be in form of beer, wine, dry gin. Drinking alcohol is an activity that many people enjoy; taking a few drinks occasionally is generally harmless. Most people do not have problems as a result of drinking alcohol in this manner, although this may predispose to heavy use. Heavy alcohol consumption has been shown in observational studies to have a strong positive association with elevated blood pressure.2-4 Further evidence have been shown by clinical trials5,6 that have demonstrated that reduction in alcohol intake among individuals who drink heavily (i.e. three or more drinks per day) can lower blood pressure in normotensive and hypertensive men. Some studies have recorded a linear dose-response relationship sometimes starting with a consumption threshold of three drinks per day (30 g of ethanol).7-13 In others, the relationship has been non-linear especially in women, and some authors have speculated that ingestion of small quantities may reduce blood pressure.14-22 These discrepancies may reflect differences in investigational design, methods and populations.23 Many studies have been done in this area in developed countries like the United States, United Kingdom and Australia. This is however, not a commonly researched area in this part of the world. The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between alcohol consumption and blood pressure of drivers of commercial vehicles

Challenges of Mobilization And Participation For Community Development: A Study Of The Internally Displaced Person Of Bakassi Peninsular, Nigeria

Mobilization and participation have extraordinary implication on the socio-cultural lives of the people of Bakassi, especially for the kind of forceful resettlement on the citizenry. This study was conducted through a participatory rural appraisal technique (survey research) in order to ascertain and evaluate the basic needs of a typical rural setting like Bakassi in Nigeria, with a view of understanding the strategies for rural mobilization and participation in a resettled environment. The study intended to explore on the social-economic, political and cultural factors affecting the internally displaced persons of Bakassi. The study was premised on invalidating contemporary resettled issues affecting a resettled area like Bakassi. The people are not appreciative of government efforts because of the frustration encountered as displaced persons. Data for this study were obtained from two hundred (200) respondents in the study area through a combined set of research instrument and Focus Group Discussion (FGD). The respondents were randomly selected from the various areas under the study. Two null hypotheses were tested using the x2 test of significance. The findings of the study have among other things shown that the people of Bakassi are not properly resettled inspite of government huge resources committed to the area; majority of the people are poor and under fed, the settlers are without good drinking water, no access to good education and poor health delivery services. The study therefore, recommends that government should have the political will to design and implement policies targeted at ameliorating the plight of the resettled Bakassi people especially in the provision of affordable social services and empowering the poor to design and implement policies having the potential of meeting the basic needs of the people. Government should also embark on proper and most effective resettlement that could make the people closer to the sea, in other to continue with their normal marine occupation

SINGLE PARENTHOOD AND SUPPORT STRATEGIES IN CALABAR, CROSS RIVER STATE, NIGERIA

Single parenthood is a social phenomenon that has always been in existence since time immemorial and it cuts across all social strata, the rich and the poor, the literate and illiterate. According to Pollit (2009), it is a household in which only one parent lives with the child or children. Single parenthood as viewed by Achakpa (2014) is the taking of family responsibility which includes caring for children without the father's or mother’s contribution. Recently, the number of single-parent families has increased drastically and it is gaining a global dimension. In Nigeria, the existence of single parents is formerly unknown and where they existed, they were ignored as exceptional cases. The thrust of this study was to examine “single parenthood and support strategies in Calabar South Local Government Area, Cross River State”. Social learning and psychological theory were adopted as theoretical frameworks. A total of 200 respondents were used for the study. The survey design was adopted while the cluster approach and stratified random sampling were also adopted to obtain the samples for the study. A structured questionnaire served as the major instrument to generate data from the respondents. The simple percentage statistical tool was used to analyse the personal characteristics of respondents with table illustration while Pearson product-moment correlation was used to test the formulated hypothesis at 0.05 level of significance. The findings were income support, employment guarantees, free and compulsory education, and free healthcare significantly enhanced the well-being of single parenthood. Therefore, the study recommended among others that the government should institute a special scholarship to assist students of poor single parents who are presently enrolled in school to caution against the effect of their financial strength. Also, public enlightenment on issues of parental skills, family values, and child discipline should be done regularly as this would make for an intact family.  Article visualizations