Fibrinogen Concentration and Thrombin Levels in Pregnant Women in Nnewi, Anambra State, South, Eastern Nigeria.

This study was aimed at looking at the influence of pregnancy on fibrinogen concentration and thrombin time (TT) levels. A total of 195 pregnant women between 18 and 35 years were recruited, 59 were in their first trimester (group A), 61 second trimester (group B) and 75 the third trimester (group C). A total of 150 apparently healthy non pregnant women were used as normal control (group D). Blood samples which was collected from each of the participants after obtaining informed consent was tested for the fibrinogen concentration using Clauss method and thrombin time using two stage method. The study was approved by Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital Ethical Committee Nnewi. ANOVA and students t-test were used for statistical analysis. The results showed that fibrinogen concentration (mg/dL) were significantly higher (p<0.05) in group A, B and C as compared with the control group. TT (s) were significantly higher (p<0.05) in group A, B and C compared with the control group. This study therefore suggests that the increase in these coagulation factors observed are due to increased thrombin generation, inflammatory state of pregnancy and fibrinogen being an acute-phase protein. It is important to obtain a baseline of these parameters for all pregnant women during antenatal visits, in order to detect any abnormality early. Key words: Fibrinogen concentration, thrombin time and pregnancy

Validation of coronavirus-2019 phobia scale using preschool practitioners in urban and rural communities in Nigeria Implication for educational sociologists

Coronavirus-2019 (COVID-19) emerged in December 2019, causing significant changes in people’s social lives and other human activities. The outbreak halted educational activities throughout the world. The Nigerian experience was unique in that most people were skeptical about the pandemic’s existence. This practice contributed to the Nigerian people’s fear of the COVID-19 outbreak. However, in Nigeria, there has never been a validated or established Covid-19 phobia scale, necessitating this study. This study was a pure validation study on COVID-19 phobia scale (C19PS). The study area was south-east states and a sample of 386 preschool practitioners in urban and rural communities of South East States, Nigeria participated in the study. The eligibility criteria include being a preschool teacher and demonstrating signs of COVID-19 phobia. The validation of the C19PS was done by subjecting the data gathered to principal axis factoring analysis with varimax rotation. The model fit for the data was tested using root mean square error of approximation and comparative fit index. It was found that the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin value of .845 for the measure of the adequacy of the sample size. There was also a significant Bartlett’s test of sphericity (P<.05). This implies that the correlation matrix for the C19PS is not an identity matrix. It was revealed that C19PS had good overall reliability (a=.896) and model fit (Root mean square error of approximation=.042, comparative fit index=.943) in a sample of Nigerian preschool practitioners. As a result, C19PS was recommended as a trustworthy tool for identifying persons who suffer from COVID-19 phobia.https://www.journals.elsevier.com/medicineam2023Science, Mathematics and Technology Educatio