Sociodemographic and gynaecological factors that influence uptake of cervical cancer screening. A cross-sectional study in Calabar, Nigeria

Background: Voluntary screening for cervical cancer has not been very effective in sub-Saharan Africa. Awareness and presence of risk factors may drive the need to screen. Objective: To characterise sociodemographic and gynaecological factors as promoters of screening uptake. Methodology: The setting was a women health rally in Calabar, Nigeria with women from different towns/ villages in Cross River State. An interviewer-administered questionnaire assessed sociodemographic and gynaecological risk factors for cervical cancer, previous Pap smear, and acceptance to screen. Data inputted in EpiInfo 7, and GraphPad Prism 7.04 statistical software’s, were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: One hundred and eighty (180) women gave consent for inclusion in the study. The age ranged from 21 to 65 with a mean of 39.8±10.3 years. With 52.22% of respondents accepting and 47.78% declining to screen, test of association showed that knowledge of cervical cancer, history of multiple sexual partners, and presence of offensive watery vaginal discharge significantly reduced the number of women who refused to screen. Previously screened women were not more likely to accept screening.Conclusion: Screening for cervical cancer was still poor. Cervical cancer knowledge and recognition of risk factors improve screening uptake. Keywords: Cervical cancer screening uptake; risk factors

Socio-Economic Correlates of Fertility Behaviour Among Rural Women in Akwa Ibom State of South-South Nigeria

No Abstract.LWATI: A Journal of Contemporary Research, 9(1), 134-144, 201

Practice Of Antenatal Clinical Breast Examination In Calabar

Reports of a rising incidence of breast cancer and the consistent finding of a significantly younger population of breast cancer patients in the country than in the west led to this study to determine the proportion of women who have a clinical breast examination at the booking visit for antenatal care in the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH).The booking information on the antenatal cards of patients who registered within a one-month period was examined. Clinical breast examination (CBE) was performed on 41.6% of the women. Women who were reviewed by consultants recorded a rate of 78.2% while the rates for women attended to by resident doctors and interns were 41.2% and 19.6% respectively (P=0.00). The CBE rate was 57.6% among women who were reviewed by female physicians and 38.3% among those reviewed by male physicians (P = 0.00). The practice of CBE in UCTH is low and is significantly related to the cadre and gender of the attending physician. Obstetricians must embrace the practice fully and utilize measures such as increased supervision and departmental seminars to sensitize doctors they train to emulate them. KEYWORDS: Antenatal, Practice and Breast Examinatio

Uterovaginal prolapse: the sociodemographic profile and reproductive health service uptake in a low resource setting, Calabar, Nigeria

Background: Uterovaginal prolapse is a common gynaecological condition in low resource countries because of high prevalence of grand multiparity, low skilled attendant at delivery and low contraceptive usage. Objective of this study was to determine the prevalence, sociodemographic profiles, utilization of reproductive health services and delay in seeking medical care of patient with uterovaginal prolapse in Calabar, Nigeria.Methods: This was a retrospective study of women who presented with uterovaginal prolapse at University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Calabar, Nigeria between 1st May 2009 and 1st June 2019. Patients case records were retrieved and analyzed. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS version 22.Results: The prevalence of genital prolapse was 0.3%. The mean age and parity were 60.19±8.71 years and 6.31±2.80, respectively. The mean duration of symptoms before presentation was 3.19±2.16 years. Genital prolapse was commonest among age group 60-79 years (52.8%), parity 5-9 (66.7%), post-menopausal (97.2%), primary education (55.6%) and farmers (47.2%). Grade 3 uterovaginal prolapse was the commonest grade (58.3%). Most patients (86.1%) had symptoms of genital prolapse for less than 5 years before seeking medical treatment. The majority of patients had no antenatal care during their pregnancies (80.6%), no skilled attendant at deliveries (86.1%) and no contraceptive use during their reproductive years (77.8%). Participants with lower parity (1-4) (p=0.03), higher educational level (p˂0.001) and teachers/civil servants (p=0.043) presented earlier (less than 1 year) to the hospital.Conclusions: There is poor utilization of reproductive health services among women who develop uterovaginal prolapse in study environment. Women with higher social status sought for help earlier. Increasing awareness of this condition and providing antenatal care, skilled birth attendants and contraceptive services will reduce the burden of this condition.

Hydatidiform mole in university of Calabar teaching hospital, Nigeria.a ten year review

Background : Hydatidiform mole is a cause of early trimester miscarriages which if not properly treated may lead to increasing severity of vaginal bleeding and maternal death.Aim: The aim of the study was to review the demographic characterislics of patients with hydatidiform mole, and the clinical outcome in the last decade.Subject, method and material: This was a retrospective review of cases of hydalidiform mole from 1st of January 2004 to 31st of December 2013. The clinical data were retrieved from patients' folders and histologically confirmed cases were analyzed using Epilnfo7 and simple percentages. The total number of deliveries over the study period was obtained from the labour ward register.Results: There were 72 cases of hydatidiform mole giving a prevalence of 3.6 per 1000 deliveries. However only 68 folders contained results of histology. Women of age groups 35-39 years (48.5%) and 15-19 years (26.5%) were those predominantly affected. Vaginal bleeding (85.3%), large for gestational age (57.4%), anaemia (57.4%), passage of vesicles (55.9%) were the most common presentations. Pregnancy test was positive in all the cases. while ultrasononography aided diagnosis in 88.2% of the cases. Suction evacuation was done in all the cases. About 63% of patients had 1-3 months follow up, while 2.9% continued beyond 1 year. The case fatality was 1.47%. However. 12 patients never came back to the hospital after evacuation.Conclusion : Molar pregnancy is a common cause of first trimester miscarriages and contributes to maternal morbidity and mortality in our Centre.Keywords: Hydalidiform mole. presentation. management, UCT

Modelling and Characterization of Laterally-Coupled Distributed Feedback Laser and Semiconductor Optical Amplifier

There is an increasing need for tuneable spectrally pure semiconductor laser sources as well as broadband and polarization insensitive semiconductor optical amplifiers based on the InGaASP/InP material system, to be monolithically integrated with other active and passive components in a photonic integrated circuit. This thesis aims to contribute to finding a solution through modelling, experimental characterization and design improvements. \ud In this thesis we have analyzed laterally-coupled distributed feedback (LC-DFB) lasers. These lasers have the gratings etched directly out of the ridge sidewalls thus lowering the cost associated with the re-growth process required if the gratings were otherwise embedded above the active region. The performance characteristics are analyzed for the LC-DFB lasers partitioned into 1-, 2-, and 3-, electrodes with individual bias control at various operating temperatures. The laser exhibits a stable single mode emission at 1560 nm with a current tuning rate of ~14 pm/mA for a tuning of 2.25 nm. The side modes are highly suppressed with a maximum side-mode suppression ratio of 58 dB. The light-current characteristics show a minimum 40 mA threshold current, and power saturation occurring at higher injection currents. The linewidth characteristics show a minimum Lorentzian linewidth of 210 kHz under free-running and further linewidth reduction under feedback operation. The multi-electrode LC-DFB laser devices under appropriate and selective driving conditions exhibit a flat frequency modulation response from 0 to above 300 MHz. The multi-electrode configuration can thus be further exploited for certain requirements. Simulation results and design improvements are also presented.\ud The experimental characterization of semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) and Fabry-Perot (FP) laser operating in the E-band are also presented. For the SOA, the linear vertical and horizontal states of polarization corresponding to the transverse electric (TE) and transverse magnetic (TM) modes were considered. For various input power and bias, performance characteristics shows a peak gain of 21 dBm at 1360 nm, gain bandwidth of 60 nm and polarization sensitivity of under 3 dB obtained for the entire wavelength range analyzed from 1340 to 1440 nm. The analysis presented in this thesis show good results with room for improvement in future designs

Transcriptional regulation of E2F-1 and eIF-2 genes by α-Pal: a potential mechanism for coordinated regulation of protein synthesis, growth, and the cell cycle

Abstractα-Pal regulates the basal transcription of the α and β subunits of eukaryotic initiation factor two (eIF-2), a rate-limiting enzyme for the initiation of protein biosynthesis. We recently showed that its global function may be to modulate the expression of key metabolic genes in response to cellular proliferation. In this paper, we examined a potential molecular mechanism by which α-Pal may achieve this function. When overexpressed, α-Pal upregulated protein synthesis and growth, but downregulated the cell cycle. The mechanism for the increased protein synthesis and growth appeared to be a transcriptional upregulation of the eIF-2α and eIF-2β genes. The mechanism for the cell cycle downregulation appeared to be a transcriptional downregulation of E2F-1, a transcription factor that regulates genes required for cell cycle progression beyond the G1/S interphase. Specifically, an apparently modified species of α-Pal bound to the eIF-2 promoters and induced transcriptional upregulation, whereas, an apparently unmodified species of the α-Pal bound to the E2F-1 promoter and induced transcriptional downregulation. By this mechanism, α-Pal may participate in coordinating the regulation of global protein synthesis, growth and the cell cycle; a regulation that is essential to cellular differentiation

Inventory Management Practices and Operational Performance of Flour Milling Firms in Lagos, Nigeria

This study examines inventory management practices of flour milling manufacturing firms and their effects on operational performance. Five flour milling manufacturing firms in Lagos were used for this study. Structured questionnaire was the major instrument for the collection of relevant primary data while descriptive statistics such as mean and standard deviation was deployed to analyzing the data gathered. The results obtained showed that exception of the large manufacturing companies, most of the medium-sized flour milling firms adopts different inventory management strategies from the scientific and best practice models. Their inventory management strategies and policies were rather based on factors such as changing level of customer demand, prevailing industry practices, forecast estimates and guesses, and available production capacity. Findings also revealed significant differences between the effective management of inventory and optimal operating performance. For instance, while firms that adopt best practice inventory management approaches reported efficiency in capacity utilization, increased service level, and reduced lead time, others with different strategies had minimal utilization of material resources. There is need for flour manufacturing firms to implement scientific inventory management models to adequately handle material shortages, product stock outs situations, component pile up and their associated penalties