Medico-legal aspects of pathology - current dilemmas regarding confidentiality and disclosure

This article deals with confidentiality and disclosure in the practice of pathology in South Africa. The recent bringing into force of the National Health Act and the proposed implementation of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD 10) codes as well as the furore regarding the accuracy of HIV related mortality statistics emanating from death certificates has focused the spotlight on ethical and legal problems with regard to confidentiality. Medical confidentiality is a duty cast upon a medical practitioner/health care provider (HCP) to keep secret any information, whether relating to a patient's ailment or otherwise, obtained directly or indirectly by the practitioner as a result of the doctor patient relationship. Confidentiality is governed by the ethical rules of the profession and the law. The ethical rules are based on the principles of autonomy and the duty not to harm patients. Rule 20 of the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) Ethical Code makes it ethical misconduct to breach confidentiality '…except with the express consent of the patient or, in the case of a minor under the age of 14 years, with the written consent of his or her parent or guardian, or in the case of a deceased patient, with the written consent of his or her next of kin or the executor of his or her estate.' The rule has recently been amplified by Ethical Rules 24 26 of the HPCSA.5 Legally, the confidentiality of patient information is prescribed in the Constitution, statute law and in the common law. Section 14 of the Constitution specifically protects people from unwanted and unnecessary disclosures of information. Section 14 of the new National Health Act1 (NHA) has specific provisions regarding confidentiality, and the common law has recognised an action for invasion of privacy for many years. All these privacy provisions have to be measured against the right of access to information in the Constitution and the Promotion of Access to Information Act

Knowledge and utilization of non-pneumatic anti-shock garment for the management of postpartum hemorrhage among Midwives in government hospitals in Ogun State, Nigeria

Objective: To assess the knowledge and determine the level of utilization of Non-Pneumatic Anti-Shock Garment (NASG) for the management of PPH among Midwives. Method: The study employed a descriptive cross-sectional study design, using a validated self-administered questionnaire. A total of 198 randomly selected midwives across three health facilities in Ogun State participated in the study. A 10-point knowledge scale was used to assess the knowledge of midwives on NASG. Descriptive statistics were used to determine the level of utilization of NASG among midwives, while Chi-square statistics were used to determine the relationship between the dependent and independent variables of interest at p<0.05 level of significance. Results: Most (88.9%) of the respondents were female with a mean age of 40.2±5.6years. Most (48.5%) had a BNS degree. The majority (74.7%) of the respondents were aware of NASG. Close to a half (49.3%) of the respondents had fair knowledge scores, 34.5% had good knowledge scores, while 16.2% had poor knowledge scores. Only 22.7% of the respondents had ever used NASG in the management of PPH; 77.3% never used it before. Also, 67.2% of the respondents reported NASG was not available in their facilities. There was a significant influence of knowledge of NASG on the utilization among midwives (X2=37.151, P<0.05, df=2). Conclusion: This study demonstrated that midwives in healthcare facilities were aware, but did not have good knowledge of NASG. The utilization of the garment for the management of PPH was also very poor, probably due to suboptimal knowledge and non-availability of the garment

An Appraisal of Effective Financial Management of Local Government Funds: A Case of Ido-Osi Local Government Area, Nigeria

This research work deal extensively on the appraisal of effective financial management of Local Government funds in Ido- Osi Local Government area. The population focus on local Government system in order to examine the level of financial management. Thus, the population sample is selected within Ido- Osi Local government area in Nigeria. Out of the sixteen local governments, sampling is selected randomly. Data were collected from both primary and secondary sources such as textbooks, Journal, government gazette while primary sources include questionnaire and personal interview. The responses to the questionnaire were analyzed by the application of Regression Coefficient in providing necessary conclusion and recommendation. Hence, this study revealed that there is an urgent need for local Government System in Nigeria to improve their financial control mechanism and to rationalize its expenditure patterns, in order to achieve optimum performance. Keywords: Appraisal, Conceptualization, Effectiveness, Financial Management and Local Government Authorit

The role of octadecanoids and functional mimics in soybean defense responses

Oxylipins of the jasmonate pathway and synthetic functional analogs have been analyzed for their elicitor like activities in an assay based on the induced accumulation of glyceollins, the phytoalexins of soybean (Glycine max L.), in cell suspension cultures of this plant. Jasmonic acid (JA) and its methyl ester showed weak phytoalexininducing activity when compared to an early jasmonate biosynthetic precursor, 12-oxophytodienoic acid (OPDA), as well as to the bacterial phytotoxin coronatine and certain 6-substituted indanoylLisoleucine methyl esters, which all were highly active. Interestingly, different octadecanoids and indanoyl conjugates induced the accumulation of transcripts of various defenserelated genes to different degrees, indicating distinct induction competencies. Therefore, these signaling compounds and mimics were further analyzed for their effects on signal transduction elements, such as the transient enhancement of the cytosolic Ca2+ concentration and MAP kinase activation, which are known to be initiated by a soybean pathogenderived {[}beta]glucan elicitor. In contrast to the {[}beta]glucan elicitor, none of the other compounds tested triggered these early signaling elements. Moreover, endogenous levels of OPDA and JA in soybean cells were shown to be unaffected after treatment with {[}beta]glucans. Thus, OPDA and JA, which are functionally mimicked by coronatine and a variety of 6-substituted derivatives of indanoylLisoleucine methyl ester, represent highly efficient signaling compounds of a lipidbased pathway not deployed in the {[}beta]glucan elicitorinitiated signal transduction

Quantum measurements of atoms using cavity QED

Generalized quantum measurements are an important extension of projective or von Neumann measurements, in that they can be used to describe any measurement that can be implemented on a quantum system. We describe how to realize two non-standard quantum measurements using cavity quantum electrodynamics (QED). The first measurement optimally and unabmiguously distinguishes between two non-orthogonal quantum states. The second example is a measurement that demonstrates superadditive quantum coding gain. The experimental tools used are single-atom unitary operations effected by Ramsey pulses and two-atom Tavis-Cummings interactions. We show how the superadditive quantum coding gain is affected by errors in the field-ionisation detection of atoms, and that even with rather high levels of experimental imperfections, a reasonable amount of superadditivity can still be seen. To date, these types of measurement have only been realized on photons. It would be of great interest to have realizations using other physical systems. This is for fundamental reasons, but also since quantum coding gain in general increases with code word length, and a realization using atoms could be more easily scaled than existing realizations using photons.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figure

Heat And Mass Transfer Of Magnetohydrodynamic (Mhd) And Dissipative Fluid Flow Past A Moving Vertical Porous Plate With Variable Suction

An investigation was carried out on the radiation effect on unsteady heat and mass transfer of MHD and dissipative fluid flow past a moving vertical porous plate with variable suction in the presence of heat generation and chemical reaction. The dimensionless governing equations for this model were solved analytically using perturbation method. The effects of various parameters on the velocity, temperature and concentration fields as well as the Coefficient of skin-friction, Nusselt number and Sherwood number were presented graphically and in tabulated forms. Keywords: Chemical reaction, Unsteady, Porous medium, MHD, Radiation, Mass transfer and Heat sourc

Physicochemical Quality and Genotoxic Potential of Wastewater Generated by Canteen Complex

Canteens generate high volumes of wastewater that should constantly be subjected to physicochemical and genotoxicity screening. In this study, the wastewater generated by a canteen complex was screened for physicochemical properties and genotoxic potential using standard procedures and Allium cepa chromosome assay. Results showed that the wastewater had total suspended solids, total dissolved solids, and total hardness concentrations of 120.70 mg/l, 554.50 mg/l, and 500.00 mg/l, respectively. The chloride concentration of the wastewater (7873.60 mg/l) was much higher than the recommended limit of 250 mg/l. The wastewater inhibited root growth in A. cepa at 0.1%, 1%, 10%, 25%, 50%, and 100% concentrations but promoted root growth at 2% and 5% concentrations. The wastewater was highly mitodepressive, with mitotic inhibition generally increasing with rising concentrations. The major chromosomal aberrations observed in A. cepa exposed to different concentrations of canteen wastewater were vagrant, sticky, and bridged chromosomes. No chromosomal aberration was observed in onion roots exposed to water (control). The differences in total chromosomal aberrations across wastewater concentrations were not statistically significant (P > 0.05). In view of these results, the practice of discharging untreated canteen wastewater into drainage canals may not be environmentally sustainable

Screening nuclear field fluctuations in quantum dots for indistinguishable photon generation

A semiconductor quantum dot can generate highly coherent and indistinguishable single photons. However, intrinsic semiconductor dephasing mechanisms can reduce the visibility of two-photon interference. For an electron in a quantum dot, a fundamental dephasing process is the hyperfine interaction with the nuclear spin bath. Here we directly probe the consequence of the fluctuating nuclear spins on the elastic and inelastic scattered photon spectra from a resident electron in a single dot. We find the nuclear spin fluctuations lead to detuned Raman scattered photons which are distinguishable from both the elastic and incoherent components of the resonance fluorescence. This significantly reduces two-photon interference visibility. However, we demonstrate successful screening of the nuclear spin noise which enables the generation of coherent single photons that exhibit high visibility two-photon interference.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures + Supplementary Informatio