Relief funding for conflict in Nigeria is affecting research agendas

Donor agencies and their funds significantly impact humanitarian relief and research priorities. With the Nigerian government and the European Union consistently allocating funds unevenly to regions in Nigeria experiencing violent conflicts, the effect on research agendas could mean some victims are underrepresented in the literature, further impacting the type and amount of relief funding received

Assessment of Knowledge on HIV Screening Among Students in Girls' Secondary School Abayi, Aba, Abia State, Nigeria

Background: Voluntary counseling and testing is a vital element of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) prevention and care strategies worldwide. It is a test carried out to determine the HIV status of a person. HIV screening enables early detection and initiation of treatment which improves the quality, and life expectancy of a HIV positive individual. Adolescents are among the vulnerable groups with an increased risk of exposure to HIV/AIDS and need to embrace HIV/AIDS testing and counseling. Objective: To assess the knowledge on HIV screening amongst adolescents in Girls’ Secondary School Abayi with a view to enlighten them on the importance of HIV screening. Materials and Methods: It was a descriptive cross-sectional study and semi-structured questionnaire was used for data collection. Students within the ages of 10-19 years were selected by systematic sampling methods and 424 students were presented using tables. Association was tested at p-value of 0.05%. Results: There was a non-response rate of 20 (4.7%). Two-hundred and thirty-four (57.9%) of the students had good knowledge of HIV/AIDS screening and 282 (69.8%) knew that HIV screening is a test to determine individual HIV status. Uptake of HIV screening was 57(14.1%) and 178 (44.1%) students believed that the reason for poor HIV screening was lack of proper awareness. Benefits of HIV screening included helping to start early treatment as accepted by 191 (47.3%) students and 332 (82.2%) respondents agreed that the test provided opportunity for proper advice on knowledge of HIV. Association of class of the respondents and knowledge HCT was found to be statistically significant with p-values of 0.006. Conclusion: There was a good knowledge of HIV screening among the students. The major reason for poor screening uptake were lack of awareness on HIV screening and inadequate provision of screening opportunities. HIV screening awareness was recommended

Advanced Gas Turbine Rotor Shaft Fault Diagnosis Using Artificial Neural Network

The effect of vibration in plant leads to catastrophic failure of a system. This is why vibration monitoring of a system constitutes a very key practice of ensuring power plant availability. Force, Amplitude and Resonance a program written in Visual Basic Programming language was utilized in this study to monitor the vibration level of the Gas Turbine (GT17) in Afam thermal station and to calculate the force causing vibration on the bearing. The program was also run using the data obtained from the plant. Results show that vibration velocity amplitude of bearing 2 on weeks 5 and 8 were 6.7mm/s and 6.6mm/s and the forces causing vibration were 2.545x104N and 2.272x104N respectively. The comparison of results obtained with maximum vibration velocity amplitude of the machine (7mm/s) showed that the vibration of the machine was tending towards the maximum value. Therefore, proper attention should be given to bearing 2 to avoid failure of the Gas Turbine

Conservation of Human Microsatellites across 450 Million Years of Evolution

The sequencing and comparison of vertebrate genomes have enabled the identification of widely conserved genomic elements. Chief among these are genes and cis-regulatory regions, which are often under selective constraints that promote their retention in related organisms. The conservation of elements that either lack function or whose functions are yet to be ascribed has been relatively little investigated. In particular, microsatellites, a class of highly polymorphic repetitive sequences considered by most to be neutrally evolving junk DNA that is too labile to be maintained in distant species, have not been comprehensively studied in a comparative genomic framework. Here, we used the UCSC alignment of the human genome against those of 11 mammalian and five nonmammalian vertebrates to identify and examine the extent of conservation of human microsatellites in vertebrate genomes. Out of 696,016 microsatellites found in human sequences, 85.39% were conserved in at least one other species, whereas 28.65% and 5.98% were found in at least one and three nonprimate species, respectively. An exponential decline of microsatellite conservation with increasing evolutionary time, a comparable distribution of conserved versus nonconserved microsatellites in the human genome, and a positive correlation between microsatellite conservation and overall sequence conservation, all suggest that most microsatellites are only maintained in genomes by chance, although exceptionally conserved human microsatellites were also found in distant mammals and other vertebrates. Our findings provide the first comprehensive survey of microsatellite conservation across deep evolutionary timescales, in this case 450 Myr of vertebrate evolution, and provide new tools for the identification of functional conserved microsatellites, the development of cross-species microsatellite markers and the study of microsatellite evolution above the species level

Severity of bovine tuberculosis is associated with co-infection with common pathogens in wild boar

Co-infections with parasites or viruses drive tuberculosis dynamics in humans, but little is known about their effects in other non-human hosts. This work aims to investigate the relationship between Mycobacterium bovis infection and other pathogens in wild boar (Sus scrofa), a recognized reservoir of bovine tuberculosis (bTB) in Mediterranean ecosystems. For this purpose, it has been assessed whether contacts with common concomitant pathogens are associated with the development of severe bTB lesions in 165 wild boar from mid-western Spain. The presence of bTB lesions affecting only one anatomic location (cervical lymph nodes), or more severe patterns affecting more than one location (mainly cervical lymph nodes and lungs), was assessed in infected animals. In addition, the existence of contacts with other pathogens such as porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2), Aujeszky's disease virus (ADV), swine influenza virus, porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus, Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae, Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae, Haemophilus parasuis and Metastrongylus spp, was evaluated by means of serological, microbiological and parasitological techniques. The existence of contacts with a structured community of pathogens in wild boar infected by M. bovis was statistically investigated by null models. Association between this community of pathogens and bTB severity was examined using a Partial Least Squares regression approach. Results showed that adult wild boar infected by M. bovis had contacted with some specific, non-random pathogen combinations. Contact with PCV2, ADV and infection by Metastrongylus spp, was positively correlated to tuberculosis severity. Therefore, measures against these concomitant pathogens such as vaccination or deworming, might be useful in tuberculosis control programmes in the wild boar. However, given the unexpected consequences of altering any community of organisms, further research should evaluate the impact of such measures under controlled conditions. Furthermore, more research including other important pathogens, such as gastro-intestinal nematodes, will be necessary to complete this picture

Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

Abstract Background Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries. Results In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries

Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

Background Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries. Results In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries

Unusual intravesical foreign body following perineo-vesical injury

Reports of foreign body in the bladder are rare. Various objects have been retrieved. Diagnosis is mainly by history of lower urinary tract symptoms and low abdominal pain combined with relevant radiological investigations. Treatment depends on the size, nature, and configuration of the object. The approach may be endoscopic or through open surgery depending on the above highlighted factors.Keywords: Foreign body, heamaturia, intravesical, woo

Unusual Intravesical Foreign Body Following Perineo-vesical Injury

Reports of foreign body in the bladder are rare. Various objects have been retrieved. Diagnosis is mainly by history of lower urinary tract symptoms and low abdominal pain combined with relevant radiological investigations. Treatment depends on the size, nature, and configuration of the object. The approach may be endoscopic or through open surgery depending on the above highlighted factors